Discovering Samuel R. Delany

Our group has read a variety of science fiction over the years, including our current anthology: Far Out: Recent Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy. But we've only read one book by a remarkable queer writer in that genre, Samuel R. Delany, and it was a memoir, not one of his novels: Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. As we start thinking about nominations for next year's reading list (a process I'll initiate next month; stay tuned), I commend this fascinating, in-depth profile of the author in the July 10-17 Fiction Issue of the New Yorker--both for its own sake and a source of suggestions for queer science fiction by Delany that we might read. 

Calling all Francophiles!

I know several members of our merry band have spent significant amounts of time in France and/or are fluent French speakers, so I'm hoping they're already planning to attend our upcoming discussion of Eduoard Louis' Who Killed My Father. But if not, let me take this opportunity to invite all Francophiles to join us at 6:30 p.m. (note the new start time) on Wed., Aug. 2, at the Cleveland Park Library.

On a related note, Lee Levine shared this with me: "My father had a business trip to France back in 1977 and brought back this poster. It's actually one poster printed front and back. It stayed in a poster tube for over 40 years, and some people no doubt would say it should have remained there. I don't think it's how Americans would show dissatisfaction with a system or air a grievance, so maybe there's something particularly French about it."

BookMen selections on stage

While in London last October, Robert Muir saw an International Theater Amsterdam adaptation, in association with the Young Vic, of the memoir we'll be discussing on Aug. 2: Edouard Louis's Who Killed My Father. (We discussed Louis's first memoir, The End of Eddy, back in 2017.) You can read Robert's original post about that by putting "Edouard" into the search box above, but let's just say he's a big fan!

Following up on that, Robert was kind enough to note that staged productions of two gay literary works are currently playing at the Soho Place and Savoy theaters, respectively, in London. The first is based on a short story I was sure we'd discussed, Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain--but that is not the case. (Yet.) The other production is based on a novel we have discussed, back in 2018: Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life. That one had such high demand that it extended its run and moved from the Harold Pinter Theater to the Savoy. 

One more connection: Ivo van Hove adapted both A Little Life and Who Killed My Father for the stage.

 

 

Florida photography, BookMen style

Following up on our recent discussion of Andrew Holleran's The Kingdom of Sand, Lee Levine notes the novel's reference to a "big bearded hippie who spent his time [in Florida] photographing old beauty parlors." As it happens, Lee did the same thing himself back in the 1990s, and was kind enough to share the two photos below.

The first is of an establishment within walking distance of South Beach in Miami, which he took in 1993. Lee notes: "Like so much in Florida, it's been swept away by changing times." The second one, of the palm tree, he took somewhere near the Everglades. Thanks for sharing these with us, Lee!

 

Let's do the Time Warp again!

Beginning in August, our first-Wednesday, in-person meetings will start at 6:30 p.m., not 7. This is because the Cleveland Park Library now closes at 8 p.m., not 9, on weeknights. I hope the earlier time will not inconvenience those of you who have 9-5 jobs; apologies if it does.

We will keep the starting time for our third-Wednesday Zoom meetings at 7 p.m. Thanks for your flexibility! (I've updated the "About the Group" info at the top right corner of the blog.)

RIP, Lilli Vincenz

If any of you have already read Eric Cervini's The Deviant's War: The Homosexuals vs. the United States of America, or are longtime residents of the DMV, then the name Lilli Vincenz should already be familiar to you. (She figures prominently in Chapter 12 of Cervini's book.) The longtime gay rights activist devoted some six decades to the cause, beginning with her first courageous pickets alongside Frank Kameny in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s, and continuing into her later years, when she acted as a keeper of the history that she and other activists made. Ms. Vincenz died on June 27 at the age of 85; here are obituaries from the Washington Post, Washington Blade and New York Times. 

By the way, in case you were wondering, we will (finally) start reading The Deviant's War and James Kerchick's Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington this fall. Due to their bulk, we'll treat them as third-Wednesday selections and read a few chapters at a time.