Nathaniel Frank Wins the Stonewall Book Award.
Posted on January 18, 2010
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Today it was announced that Nathaniel Frank won the Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award for his book, Unfriendly Fire How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America. This was one of my favorite books of 2009 and I am delighted to see it getting the recognition it so richly deserved. Click here to read my review.
David Francis won The Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award for his novel, Stray Dog Winter. And Nick Burd won Stonewall’s first children’s and young adult literature award for his book, The Vast Fields of Ordinary.
Congratulations to the winners!
Happy Birthday Edmund White!
Posted on January 13, 2010
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Today is the birthday of Edmund White. It’s a good time to reflect on the courage of one of America’s great writers. Courage is not a word often used when describing today’s American writers, but Mr. White is different. We learned from his recently published memoir, that the sixties were a time of tremendous struggle for him. In this day of yuppie writers, it’s almost impossible to imagine a writer struggling so long to be published.
Edmund White’s great breakthrough was, of course, A Boy’s Own Story. It took courage to write A Boy’s Own Story. It was one of the first literary novels to present a gay boy as anything other than sick. It is a sweet irony that this courageous tome went on to become the first gay-themed New York Times Bestseller. Many believe A Boy’s Own Story is the Great American Queer Novel. For me, A Boy’s Own Story –alone–doesn’t quite rise to this level. But when taken together with its two sequels–Beautiful Room is Empty and Farewell Symphony–this trilogy perfectly represents The Great American Queer Novel–epic in sweep, historical and deeply personal.
If Edmund White had written only these three novels, he would be one of America’s great writers–gay or straight. But Mr. White didn’t stop here. He has written several more novels–including some historical fiction. He has written an award-winning biography of Proust and a highly entertaining biography of Rimbaud.
One of my favorite Edmund White books is his memoir, My Lives. Rather than presenting a chronological history of his life, Mr. White made the interesting decision to divide the book into different “Lives.” The two chapters that deal the most frankly with sexuality are: “My Hustlers” and “My Master.” Mr. White appears to have no interest in justifying his behavior. He is neither an apologist nor a propagandist. The writing is matter of fact, fascinating–occasionally humorous. Mr. White could have easily omitted these chapters from the book. After all, how many Princeton professors write about this sort of thing? But Mr. White once again made the courageous choice.
While we’re on the subject of courage, I should mention Mr. White’s recent play, Terre Haute. There are a lot of reasons great American novelists rarely try their hand at playwriting. For one thing, their record as a whole hasn’t been too good. Henry James’s one and only play was a notorious flop. Hemingway’s one and only play never got off the ground. And F. Scott Fitzgerald’s one and only play bombed in a “Broadway Bound” Atlantic City try-out. Plus, it can be painful. It’s a tough thing to submit your writing to a producer and a director, actors and finally an audience who may or may not get it.
I didn’t get a chance to see Mr. White’s play when it was produced in New York, but I did recently read it. And I was struck by two things. First, the quality of the dialogue. And second, the humor. As you probably know, the play is a series of conversations between a man who seems a lot like Timothy McVeigh and a writer who seems a lot like Gore Vidal. Mr. White gives the Gore Vidal stand-in a Yale education and he even has him quoting Norman Mailer(!) but the similarities with Gore Vidal are obvious. This character also gets all the good lines. Like his response when asked if he slept well: “I always sleep well. I leave nothing to chance. I’ve taken a ten-milligram valium every night of my life.”
It’s nice to see one of America’s great writers taking a stab at playwriting. And succeeding. I hope he will continue to write plays. I understand he is working on a sequel to City Boy. Will he also be writing some more fiction? Or perhaps another quality biography? Whatever his next project, I’m sure it will be courageous.
Four Gift-able Queer Coffee Table books
Posted on December 18, 2009
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Here are four gift-able queer coffee table books–in no particular order:
- Gore Vidal’s Snapshots in History’ Glare.
Mr. Vidal has assembled an amazing collection of photographs–mostly candids of him and his friends. We see Paul Newman, Johnny Carson, Tennessee Williams and many others. They are often positioned casually around a pool or at the beach–frequently shirtless. The interiors of Mr. Vidal’s fine homes are presented beautifully. And the behind-the-scenes photos of his talk show appearances are interesting. I particularly enjoyed the snaps of his political excursions: his run for congress, his later appearances with Abby Hoffman and others.
Unfortunately, this book is also littered with Mr. Vidal’s self-serving, pompous, often-hilariously inaccurate comments. Particularly egregious is Mr. Vidal’s description of the famously trashy film: Suddenly Last Summer. Mr. Vidal writes: “I know (Sam) Spiegel has listed beside my name Tennessee Williams himself, who did not contribute one line to the screenplay. But Tennessee Williams was quite happy with the result.”
Gore Vidal is eighty-four years old. Perhaps his memory is failing him. He might have considered refreshing it by consulting Tennessee Williams’ Memoirs–published in 1975. In his Memoirs Mr. Williams didn’t spend a lot of time on the movie Suddenly Last Summer. He mentioned that Sam Spiegel gave him fifty thousand dollars plus fifteen percent of the profits for the movie rights. Then he added: “…the profits were as good as the movie was bad.” So yes: “Tennessee Williams was quite happy with the result.” If we define “the result” as: large residual checks.
- Katharine Hepburn: A Life in Pictures
Chronicle recently published a magnificent book of Katharine Hepburn photographs. These photos span almost all of Ms. Hepburn’s sixty-two year career in film. There are a number of candids as well as the glamour photos of the day. I found the candids the most interesting, because they reveal sides of Katharine Hepburn which she tried hard to conceal. For example, the candids of her on the set of Suddenly Last Summer reveal a woman who looks surprisingly old. (Ms. Hepburn famously spat in the eye of director, Joseph Mankiewicz, when she saw the finished film.) In the candid photos, Ms. Hepburn also looks surprisingly freckled and one can see why Howard Hughes nicknamed her, “Red.” She’s also frequently photographed smoking. And I couldn’t help but think: For someone who lived to be ninety-six, this woman sure smoked a lot of cigarettes.
Don’t expect too much from the text. It’s written by the man who wrote the authorized biography of Katharine Hepburn. And this text feels authorized also. No mention of Ms. Hepburn’s lesbianism. (And none of the corroborating photos.) This is strictly boilerplate: “Kate and Spensah.”
For some hints of Katharine Hepburn’s homosexuality, one might just as well read her full-page quotes–sprinkled throughout the book.
Being a housewife and mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn’t interest you, don’t do it. I would have made a terrible mother.
If you want to give up the admiration of thousands of men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married.
I never realized until recently that women were supposed to be the inferior sex.
- Some Like it Hot: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion
Some Like it Hot doesn’t start out as a very queer film. It opens in Chicago in nineteen twenty-nine and it’s, of course, the night of the Saint Valentine’s Massacre. There are machine guns and sight gags about hiding the prohibition-era booze. And there is a gangster leader named Spats who wears spats and flicks a coin like Geor
ge Raft, because, of course, he is George Raft. When Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon throw on the dresses and the make-up for the first time it’s an amusing sight gag–particularly Jack Lemmon’s cupid’s bow lipstick–but it still feels like another guy film. Even the extra-terrestrial appearance of a spaced-out Marilyn Monroe doesn’t quite lift this movie above a slightly formulaic comic diversion, for me. About three quarters into the film, though, Billy Wilder throws a surprising loop into the formula: Jack Lemmon’s character gets excited about the idea of marrying an older man. And the comic dialogue, which had started out almost predictable, becomes madly unpredictable, unexpected. As when Tony Curtis’s character asks Jack Lemmon’s: “Why would a guy want to marry another guy?” His response: “Security!”
A great movie deserves a first-class companion. And I honestly don’t think anyone could have done a better job than Laurance Maslon and the people at Collins Design. This is the perfect gift for anyone who loves Some Like it Hot.
- Joan Crawford: The Enduring Star
Earlier t
his year, Rizzoli published a superior Joan Crawford coffee table book. This beautifully-produced book is comprised primarily of high quality studio shots of Ms. Crawford. One is reminded of how beautiful she could photograph–particularly when she was young. And this book also shows how long Joan Crawford’s career was. The overall effect is respectful. And the text by Peter Cowie is also respectful in tone. No mention of Ms. Crawford’s bisexuality here. But I must say the quality of the writing is very high. I actually learned a few things from reading this book. For instance, I never knew that Joan Crawford became interested in Christian Science while filming Susan and God.
This is an ideal gift for the Joan Crawford fan in your life.
What Would Auden Review?
Posted on December 1, 2009
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The great queer poet, W.H. Auden once said: “One cannot review a bad book without showing off.” Maybe that’s why I have been so reluctant to review bad books. Maybe I thought having a website was showing off enough.
I began this blog on a down note. Gay and Lesbian bookstores were closing. Queer Lit was increasingly marginalized. Carrol and Graf was shuttered. Could it be possible, I wondered, to honestly recommend, say, one queer book a month? I had my (unstated) doubts. And I was kind of bummed out.
Well, alert the media: This queer reader is no longer depressed. LGBT bookstores are still under threat. The Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York has closed. Philadelphia’s Giovanni’s Room is struggling mightily. And the superstores continue to marginalize queer lit in distantly positioned “Gay and Lesbian” sections.
And yet, there are bright spots. Don Wiese, the former head of Carrol and Graf is now the executive editor of Alyson. He is re-making Alyson in his own image and that is a very good thing indeed. Also, I would point to Edmund White. His memoir, City Boy, is by far the best book of the year. It was just yesterday announced that City Boy is on The New York Times Notable Books list. And it’s selling. I’m told City Boy has a sequel on the way: something to look forward to. Mr. White is so prolific, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with him. For instance, if you’re not paying close attention, you might not notice that his Rimbaud biography The Double Life of a Rebel is being published in paperback today.
It’s reassuring to know that our standard-bearers are still writing. I’m very much looking forward to an announced addition to Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series. Michael Cunningham has revealed that he is working on a new novel. The brief excerpt that was recently published in Electric Literature Magazine was exquisitely haunting.
It’s also nice to see a younger group of queer writers continuing to make an impact. Among them are Stephen McCauley, Bob Smith, Alison Bechdel and Patrick Ryan.
And while we are on the subject, I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the university presses in cheering this Queer Reader up. These small publishing houses have repeatedly picked up the slack–publishing important academic titles, as well as highly entertaining ones. In particular, I would point to The University of Chicago Press who really did a beautiful job packaging and publishing Andrea Weiss’s vividly illustrated: In the Shadow of the Magic Mountain.
Quality queer lit is out there. And in the coming weeks I will be offering guidance on some gift titles for the holidays. In the meantime let me leave you with this: Support our queer bookstores. If you don’t live near one, buy a book from one of them online. It’s easy.
The paperback edition of Edmund White’s Rimbaud The Double Life of a Rebel is published by Atlas.
UPDATE 12/10/09: Since I posted this, three more LGBT bookstore’s have announced that they are closing soon: Lambda Rising in Washington, DC. its satellite store in Rehoboth, and Out Word in Indianapolis. It’s sometimes easy to forget that these gay institutions are also retail businesses. And the holiday season is crucial to their survival. So do your part. Buy a book from one of the few remaining queer bookstores. Now more than ever, they need your support.
The Bob Smith Interview
Posted on October 23, 2009
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When I formally requested an interview with the author, Bob Smith, I had no idea what to expect. I knew that he was an excellent writer and I figured he probably had a good sense of humor, but I had no idea that the author of Selfish and Perverse was, in fact, a world-class mensch. Not only did he grant me an interview within a week of my request, he spent over an hour with me at my apartment in Chelsea.
He calls Armistead Maupin an influence. Also: Ronald Firbank, Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh and Joe Orton. Interestingly, he considers Dawn Powell and Barbara Pym to be strong influences as well. And he calls Stephen McCauley, “… one of the most under-rated writers today–gay or straight.”
Mr. Smith talks about what it was like writing for MADtv. Why it took him six years to write Selfish and Perverse. Why, “Alaskans are the coolest people.” And why his new novel will be significantly shorter than his first. It’s a long interview. That’s why I have posted it at my sister website: QueerReader.Blogspot.com.
Edmund White’s City Boy: Literate, Historical, Delightful.
Posted on October 5, 2009
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Edmund White’s City Boy is the kind of book we rarely see in the United States: a literate memoir. It is an important book. And It is also a delightful book. In a conversational–frequently humorous–style, he chronicles his own life in the sixties and seventies. For most of these years, Mr. White was struggling. I was frankly startled to learn how long he struggled. Today Edmund White is such a literary institution that it comes as a surprise to learn how difficult his early years were. It is somewhat ironic that these difficult years make such an enjoyable read. But Mr. White intelligently includes thorough descriptions of New York City throughout the book. It’s changed significantly since the sixties and seventies. New York was certainly dirtier, smokier, emptier and less safe. But it also had a bohemian art/literature culture that is now gone. So while Edmund White struggled for years to get his work published, he spent much of this time in the presence of artists and writers. A lot of names come up in this book: Susan Sontag, Vladimir Nabokov, Robert Mapplethorpe, Christopher Isherwood, Harold Brodkey, Lillian Hellman, William Burroughs to name a few. But it never feels like Mr. White is name-dropping. All of these names arise organically through the narrative of the story. And Mr. White is never catty. Indeed this is a surprisingly warm-hearted memoir. Thus City Boy manages to be both educational and a pleasure to read.
One gets the impression that Edmund White has been writing this book years before he actually put it down on paper. He covered the Stonewall riots in his excellent novel, The Beautiful Room is Empty, but here he seems determined to fill in some blanks. For instance, he has in the past compared the Stonewall to the Bastille, but here he further explains this analogy:
The Stonewall was a symbol, just as the leveling of the Bastille had been. No matter that only six had been in the Bastille and one of those was Sade, who clearly deserved being locked up. No one chooses the right symbolic occasion; one takes what’s available.
The Stonewall riots remain an enigmatic event: a flash of violence in an otherwise peaceful movement. Queer leaders all have their own ways of interpreting and reinterpreting this seminal event. Mr. White has this advice for them:
GLBT leaders like to criticize young gays for not taking the movement seriously, but don’t listen to them. Just remember that at Stonewall we were defending our right to have fun, to meet each other, and to have sex.
It is interesting that while many of the writers Mr. White encounters were gay, sex–or even sexuality–rarely enters into this book. He does point out that most of them kept their sexuality a secret, except to close friends and family. But for all their drama, manipulations–even deceptions–these really were writers struggling to define great literature and to write it.
The selection of the sixties and the seventies for this volume of memoirs is significant. The sixties and the seventies truly were a pivotal period for queers, for society and for literature. And the first person narrator–as in Mr. White’s best fiction–has a certain universality to his character. Here he is likable, humorous, slightly self-deprecating. At the beginning of the book he smokes three packs a day and drinks heavily. By the end of the book he has quit smoking and drinking and, by his own description, has gained a few pounds. At the beginning of the book he believes he is sick and goes to more than one therapist to “cure” himself of his sexuality. By the end of the book he is becoming a gay leader. His journey is that of a gay everyman. But this gay everyman is extraordinary. Because Mr. White’s most important evolution is his journey from struggling writer to internationally acclaimed author. How he made this journey, and who and what influenced him along the way, forms the core of this book. And it’s what makes this book great.
Edmund White’s City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960’s and 1970’s is published by Bloomsbury.
UPDATE 11/29/09: City Boy just made the New York Times’ Notable Books of 2009 List. Good call!
Read Christopher Bram’s Mapping the Territory.
Posted on September 30, 2009
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Queer readers no doubt will be tempted to read the most tantalizing articles in Christopher Bram’s new book first and then perhaps not get around to reading the others. “Homage to Jimmy,” for example is a fascinating explanation of how “Gods and Monsters” grew from a personal obsession to a novel and finally, an excellent film. “Faggots Revisited” is a surprisingly literate, unusually even-handed examination of Larry Kramer’s now-thirty-one year-old novel. And it has a surprise ending. “Can Straight Men Still Write?” is both intelligent and ironically humorous. Yes skipping from one tasty morsel to the next has a certain logic to it; cockroaches instinctively eat the chips on a chocolate chip cookie first. But–in this case–I must strongly argue against this urge.
If you don’t read Mr. Bram’s book all the way through, from beginning to end, you will be depriving yourself of a supreme pleasure. Because Mapping the Territory scans. From the first article, Mr. Bram demonstrates a remarkable story-telling ability. These articles have a beginning, a middle and an end. And they seque smoothly from one article to the next. It is a tribute to Mr. Bram–and presumably his editor–that this queer reader frequently found himself forgetting he was reading a collection of articles. In fact, it reads more like a literary memoir.
If you don’t read Christopher Bram’s Mapping the Territory all the way through from beginning to end, you might find yourself missing “Perry Street, Greenwich Village”–one of my favorite pieces. Mr. Bram grew up in Virginia and this is clearly an outsider’s view of New York. It is frequently humorous, but the humor here does not come from putting people down. It comes from a genuine appreciation of humanity.
Every queer should read “Hearts of Stone: AIDS and the Common Reader,” and “Mapping the Territory: Gay Men’s Writing.” These two articles present a highly intelligent, literate overview of the state of queer literature. In ”A Queer Monster,” Mr. Bram objectively examines the question of Henry James’ sexuality.
Queer readers will also enjoy, “A Sort of Friendship: Some Thoughts on Gay Marriage.” Nice to have some intelligent input on the subject. Mr. Bram reveals that he has been with his “boyfriend” for twenty-five years and they have no intention of getting married. But it is Mr. Bram’s wit and humor that make this article worthwhile.
I am reluctant to go on, because I don’t want to help you pick and choose. Instead, let me offer you this advice: Read Christopher Bram’s Mapping the Territory from beginning to end.
Christopher Bram’s Mapping the Territory: Selected Nonfiction is published by Alyson.
Good News: Bob Smith’s Selfish and Perverse is in paperback today.
Posted on September 1, 2009
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Queer readers have reason to rejoice. Bob Smith’s Selfish and Perverse is available in paperback today. Mr. Smith’s book is both laugh out-loud funny and surprisingly wise. I don’t use these words lightly. I personally almost never laugh out-loud when reading a book. But Selfish and Perverse had me laughing out-loud repeatedly–from the first page.
Mr. Smith begins his novel on the set of a late-night television comedy show. The dialogue is both hilarious and completely realistic–these are comedy writers afterall. But it’s the narrator’s voice that gives this novel its wit. Almost every page contains a witty one (or two) liner. And as the novel progresses from Southern California to the tundra of Alaska, these witticisms evolve into wisdoms–truths about life.
The plot of the novel is fairly simple. Aspiring writer, Nelson Kunker is working as a script co-ordinator for a struggling TV show called, “Aftertaste.” After a humorous mishap, Nelson loses his job and, at the same time, finds himself falling for a hunky guy from Alaska. As the narrator explains: “Love at first sight makes sense, because we’re all pressed for time.” Nelson decides to spend the summer with him fishing in Alaska. To complicate matters, someone else comes along: a possibly bi-sexual, definitely uber-sexy movie star named Dylan Fabrizak. Why did Nelson think bringing Dylan along would be a good idea? Much of the novel is an answer to this rhetorical question. Mr. Smith’s description of Dylan is very deliberate. He doesn’t describe Dylan all at once. Instead, he provides tiny bits of description throughout the book. These glimpses of Dylan are erotic and amount to a tasteful striptease. The reader is effectively reminded of why they let him come along in the first place: he’s hot. The second half of the novel takes on a more leisurely pace. Alaska’s rugged scenery is lovingly described. And Mr. Smith amusingly renders Alaska’s gay scene. It can accurately be called a “community.” Everyone knows each other. And that’s not always a good thing. I don’t want to give away too much, except to say that the plot’s climax is both logical and satisfying. And the arrival of Wendy–a fellow TV writer–brings the novel back to its comedic roots. Beyond that let me just say that only Bob Smith could make the electrocution of the Rosenbergs hilarious.
I’m so glad Selfish and Perverse is finally in paperback. Because it is, in the best sense of the expression, “a beach read.” A fun read. A delightful read. You’ll find yourself learning about television, about Alaska, about love. And you probably won’t even notice how well-constructed this novel is. You’ll be too busy laughing.
The paperback edition of Bob Smith’s Selfish and Perverse is published by Alyson.
When Gay People Get Married
Posted on August 2, 2009
Filed Under Book Review, Same-Sex Marriage | 1 Comment
Yesterday New York University Press published an important book: When Gay People Get Married, What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage. As the title suggests, this book is an in depth analysis of how societies have been changed by the legalization of same sex marriage. There is a particular emphasis on The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries–because these countries have had same sex marriage the longest–but other countries are also covered. The birth rates of these countries are examined. As are the marriage rates and the cohabitation rates. There are multitudinious statistics and graphs. This is a serious academic repudiation of those who argue that the legalization of same-sex marriage will result in some sort of sociological calamity.
All of this could make for a pretty dry read. But Ms. Badgett was wise to inject her own same sex marriage story into the book–personalizing the narrative. She passionately and intelligently describes the insidious discrimination that LGBTs experience in their daily lives.
Most people–sometimes including gay and lesbian people themselves–do not realize the extent of the sense of difference that is embedded in many gay people’s lives and, consequently, in most social interactions. In a given day or even hour, the context of difference means that we might travel back and forth between feeling affirmation and alienation, connection and rejection, understanding and confusion. Not all of us operate at the extremes, of course, at least not all the time. Maintaining one’s mental health in a world that legally treats gay people as second class citizens, with no protection against employment discrimination in thirty states and very little recognition of relationships, means learning to distinquish ordinary unfriendliness from prejudiced behavior, to choose battles carefullly, but bravely, and to depersonalize institutional discrimination, including exclusion from marriage.
In the conclusion she writes:
While writing this book, I’ve also lived through most of the changes discussed here: deciding whether to marry, creating a meaningful ceremony, coming out as a woman who has a female wife and addressing the social and legal implications of a new status. My relatives treat my wife differently, my employer extends benefits to her and we feel more committed to each other–all outcomes that help me easily overlook the fact that my taxes have risen.
Ms Badgett also acknowledges that, as positive as her own same sex marriage experience was, not everyone is on board. In the Netherlands for example the same sex marriage rates are still surprisingly low.
Near the end of the book Ms. Badgett takes a few pages to ask some rhetorical questions. Such as: Will gay people change marriage? And: Will marriage change gay people? The short answer to these questions, I believe, is “Yes.” For the longer answer, we’ll all just have to wait. Perhaps until Ms. Badgett’s next book.
M. V. Lee Badgett’s When Gay People Get Married, What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage is published by New York University Press.
On the passing of E. Lynn Harris
Posted on July 25, 2009
Filed Under Queer Lit News | 3 Comments
I am so saddened by the horrible, horrible news that E. Lynn Harris has passed on. I never had the privilege of meeting Mr. Harris, but I would like to send my condolences to all those who knew and loved him. Beyond that I am stunned–literally speechless.
Band of Thebes covers this story better than I ever could.
Click here for Band of Thebes coverage of E. Lynn Harris.
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