![]() Names Davies, Diana, 1938- (Photographer) Collection Corlett handles the clash of different lifestyles perfectly, using gentle humour to explore personal prejudices, and offering plenty of surprises along the way.TitleLeo Louis Martello, Martha Shelley, and Sandy DeWine at Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore A comedy of manners set in a quiet village in middle England, it revolves around a cast of colourful country types whose tolerance is tested by the arrival of two gay men setting up home together. Two Gentlemen Sharing by William Corlett (1997) Two Gentlemen Sharing is one of the funniest gay novels I've read in years. Barely 150 pages long, and written in stark prose, it's a complete head rush from start to finish, packed with tales of anonymous sex, drug abuse and the harsh realities of life on the edge.ġ0. ![]() Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas (1997) The tale of a screwed-up, 19-year-old Greek gay lad who goes looking for kicks in suburban Melbourne, this is the kind of novel that you read in one or two sittings. It's an ambitious book, epic in scale, and one which reminds us that rightwing fundamentalists aren't the only ones concerned with 'family values'.ĩ. It tells the story of four generations of an American immigrant family and the various ways in which the parents cope with a gay child in the family and the gay child copes with the desire to create a family of his own. His last book, The Hours, won the Pulitzer prize for fiction and is currently being made into a film starring Nicole Kidman. Flesh And Blood by Michael Cunningham (1995) Michael Cunningham is one of the most gifted writers around. The writer of this book clearly doesn't.Ĩ. For some strange reason, certain gay men seem to have a problem laughing at themselves. Lambasted by the gay press for its allegedly 'negative' portrayal of London's gay community, it's a far more honest account of gay life in the big city than you'll ever read in any of the gay bar rags. Queens by Pickles (1984) Queens was published the same year I moved to London. Nor do I particularly like 'coming out' stories. I'm not a huge fan of Edmund White generally (I find him rather pompous). A Boy's Own Story by Edmund White (1982) Someone described this book as a cross between Catcher in the Rye and De Profundis. A gay literary classic, and rightly so.Ħ. There's an almost mythical quality to the story, as the various characters are enraptured by the arrival of Malone, a man whose physical beauty marks him out as some kind of saviour. Dancer From The Dance by Andrew Holleran (1978) Set against the smoke-filled dives and gay discos of 70s New York, Dancer From The Dance is a tale of doomed queens, professional faggots and the loneliness of lives lived out under the revolving glitter ball. ![]() The plots are often stretched beyond credibility, but the characters are so convincing that it hardly matters.ĥ. It's the happy mix of gay and straight characters that makes him so readable. ![]() Maupin was the first writer I ever read who presented gay characters as part of life's rich tapestry, rather than as creatures inhabiting a world all of their own. Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (1978) I must have read the Tales of the City series about a dozen times. He's actually a far funnier writer than many people give him credit for. ![]() Rechy's is a world populated by hustlers, drag queens and men on the make, masking their longing for love with bitchy humour and casual sex. City of Night by John Rechy (1963) I was first switched on to John Rechy by listening to Soft Cell and Marc Almond. So in that sense at least, there is an extraordinary optimism about it.ģ. When the papers were confiscated, he started again. Genet wrote it in prison, on pieces of brown paper used by the prisoners to make bags. Our Lady of the Flowers is considered his masterpiece. He was certainly a pessimist, and one who would have had little sympathy with the feelgood, flag-waving gay politics of today. Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet (1943) For many gay men, Genet represents a self-loathing homosexuality that went out of fashion with the birth of gay liberation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |