Hemingway/Heringway?

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's latest PBS project, "Hemingway," has renewed interest in the legendary writer. One important facet of his personality that the series reportedly brings out (full disclosure: I haven't yet watched it) is that despite his carefully cultivated reputation for machismo, Hemingway insisted that all four of his wives keep their hair cut short and dominate him in bed. (This kink may well have been at least partly the legacy of his domineering mother's insistence on dressing Ernest and his sister identically until their teens.)

The question of Hemingway's potential bisexuality had already surfaced in his incomplete novel, The Garden of Eden, posthumously published in 1986. In it, a young American writer, David Bourne, and his glamorous wife, Catherine, fall in love with the same woman. But I was not aware, until BookMen member Richard Schaefers brought it to my attention (thanks!), that the series also references his 1927 short story, "A Simple Enquiry" (sic). Here is a synopsis (adapted from Wikipedia): "Three Italian soldiers are snowbound. The senior officer, the Major, calls a 19-year-old orderly into his room and asks him whether he has ever loved a woman. Most critics interpret the ensuing conversation as the major propositioning the orderly. When his questions are rebuffed, the major dismisses the orderly on the understanding that he will not report the matter."

Richard also notes another Hemingway story, "The Sea Change," in which a man and his female partner, who is having an affair with another woman, discuss the situation.

Another gay poet to know: Kaveh Akbar

Earlier this week, I posted an item spotlighting Poem-a-Day, which recently featured a gay African-American poet, Cyrus Cassells. The April 23 edition of that service brought "My Father's Accent" by Kaveh Akbar, a gay Iranian-American writer who is currently poetry critic at The Nation and has published several collections. In contrast with Cassells, whose work tends to be sensuous and lyrical, Akbar's style is rough and gritty, and his poems overflow with violent images--as in a 2017 poem, "Ways to Harm a Thing." To put it another way: If you like Dennis Cooper novels, you'll probably like Akbar's poetry.

 

Nocturnes for the King of Naples

The title of Edmund White's novel comes from a series of nocturnes composed by Franz Joseph Haydn.

Around 1785, Joseph Haydn was commissioned to perform a series of concerts for King Ferdinand IV of Naples. It was an unusual assignment, because the works had to be written for two players of the "lira organizzata," a kind of hurdy-gurdy with a small, built-in organ. This instrument, of which no specimen has survived, was very popular on the streets of Naples at the time. The king himself was a virtuoso player of an improved version of the instrument, which had been designed by Norbert Hadrava, an Austrian legation secretary in Naples. 

Hadrava continued to write to various composers, including Haydn, to compose works for the lira. Around 1788, Hadrava gave the composer a new commission, this time for a number of "Notturni" for two lira, winds and strings. Even during Haydn's lifetime, these works were performed in various arrangements, with flute and oboe or two flutes substituted for the lira. Some of these nocturnes have been released on CD by the ensembles Mozzafiato and L'Archibudelli, among others. 

Where Bookmen can get their books

Ernie Raskauskas reminds us that the Montgomery County Public Library system often has multiple copies of the books we discuss available. (A tribute to our good taste!). For example, it has 17 copies of our upcoming selection, Live Oak, with Moss, on its shelves. And you do not have to be a resident of the county or even the state to borrow these books. They're available, free of charge, to anyone in the DMV with a library card via interlibrary loan.

As a bonus, the more often LGBTQ titles are borrowed from libraries, the stronger the case librarians can make for ordering more of them. And in honor of Earth Day, here's one more incentive to go the borrowing route: Using libraries is like recycling.  🌈

Nabokov and Edmund White

 I want to correct something I said last night.  Nabokov did not say "Nocturnes for the Kind of Naples" was the best book he'd read that year (Nabokov died in 1977).  He said that about White's first novel "Forgetting Elena."  Edmund White and Nabokov never met in person but they had phone conversations.  

Happy National Poetry Month!

A few months ago, I signed up for Poem-a-Day, a free service from the Academy of American Poets that disseminates contemporary poetry. Each e-mail also offers a podcast option so you can hear the poets read their work. While I'm no expert, I'd say the site's daily offerings maintain a high standard, and even the relatively few poems that don't resonate with me are still worth reading. 

I particularly appreciate the opportunity to sample the output of lots of writers I'd never known about before, such as Cyrus Cassells. There was nothing obviously gay about his "How Many Lives Have We Lived in Paris?" but let's just say I got a vibe, which was borne out when I read more of his work. He's published eight poetry collections, so I plan to keep him in mind as a candidate for a future BookMen reading list.

Moffie, the Movie

A film adaptation of Andre Carl van der Merwe's 2006 novel, Moffie, is now available on streaming devices; here is the Metro Weekly review. Our friend Ernie Raskauskas reminds me that he has nominated the book for our reading list three times--most recently, last year. Maybe seeing it on screen will generate more votes for the book next time? 😀

The Talented Ms. Highsmith

As we approach the 22nd anniversary of our founding (May 11, 1999), I've been spending some time perusing the long list of "Books We Have Read" (scroll down on the blog homepage for that). For example, I see that we read two novels by Patricia Highsmith in our early days: The Talented Mr. Ripley in 2000 and The Price of Salt in 2005. Over the past several months, the New York Times' T Book Club has run three essays about those novels and their film adaptations that those of you who enjoy her work should check out. In reverse chronological order, they are:

April 8: Kerry Manders considered the question, "Do Patricia Highsmith Novels Make Good Films?" 

March 24: Edmund White finds in The Talented Mr. Ripley a "Shape-Shifting Protagonist Who's Up to No Good." (Among the many things I learned is that the novel is just the first in a series of five!)

Nov. 12, 2020: Megan O'Grady explains how that novel "foretold our age of grifting."

Last but not least, in January Richard Bradford published a  biography of the novelist: Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith. Here's Wendy Smith's review in the Post.

Goreymania!

Following up on our highly enjoyable April 7 discussion of Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey, Mark Dery's biography of the inimitable artist and writer, Octavio Roca kindly sent me the link to the Gorey Store. There, you can purchase the entire Gashleycrumb Tinies fridge magnet collection, among many other treasures. After all, you certainly don't want to end up like poor Neville!

Some D.C.-based LGBTQ books worth considering

Back on March 4, the Washington Post Weekend section featured "18 books that capture the spirit and essence of living in D.C." That compilation included two titles of special interest to our demographic: George Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo (which I would have nominated for our current reading list if we hadn't already had lots of choices) and Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, whose cover asks, "What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?" It sounds like a hoot, so I've ordered a copy. 

Two weeks later, the Post did a follow-up based on reader feedback that includes a book our group read during its first year (October 1999): Jeb and Dash: A Diary of Gay Life, 1918-1945, edited by Ina Russell, and two we haven't (yet): Florence King's Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady: A Memoir, and Gore Vidal's Lincoln. I read Jeb and Dash on my own and highly recommend it. 

Frying Francis' Bacon

Francis Bacon: Revelations, by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, a new biography of the flamboyant English painter, lives up to the promise of its title--at least judging from the reviews in the Washington Post and New York Times. (The Amazon page quotes several similarly laudatory reviews from the other side of the pond.) Several Bookmen have already suggested we consider it for our next reading list despite its heft (880 pages/more than three pounds!), and I certainly think it's worth considering. We could handle it the way we did John Lahr's similarly lengthy biography, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, which we split up between two sessions back in 2016.