Dennis Cooper on Ronald Firbank

During last night's discussion—ably facilitated by Robert Muir—of Ronald Firbank's 1926 novella, Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli, several of us tried to identify modern LGBTQ writers Firbank has influenced. Philip Clark helpfully cited Dennis Cooper and pointed us to the author's blog, where Cooper posted the following essay in November 2017.

Wide-ranging, thorough and delightful, including a comparison of Firbank with James Joyce (!), the piece is well worth perusing even if you're not a fan of Firbank's purple prose. Which, honesty compels me to say, none of us was, though most of us were glad for the opportunity to read this work.

That said, I do subscribe to Cooper's assessment:

"Firbank is with doubt a minor writer (whether Joyce, for all his present 'reclame', is a major one, is a question which can only be settled by posterity), but one who, for the most part, achieved precisely what he set out to do."

scattershot or anatomizing?

In his last chapter "Descent into Hades" (i.e. Straight to Hell) William E. Jones not only places Boyd McDonald in the tradition of Cynic philosophers but also his work as a whole (and implicitly Jones' own book too) into Northrop Frye's fourth genre of literary prose—the Anatomy:

The intellectual structure built up from the story makes for violent dislocations in the customary logic of narrative, though the appear-ance of carelessness that results reflects only the carelessness of the reader or his tendency to judge by a novel-centered conception of fiction.

(Jones quoting Frey on page 194 of his True Homosexual Experiences). I regret having been unable to attend the discussion of this book, thereby learning perhaps how well discussants took this point into account.

Meanwhile, however, I want to highlight what any reader of Holleran's review will have noticed (and thanks to Steve for posting it), namely
Charles Hefling's wonderful caricature of the Reverend Boyd,

bringing to mind Sméagol's own moment in his turn to Golem.
(Hobbits are such dirty creatures!)

Holleran reviews "True Homosexual Experiences"

A tip of the hat to Tim Walton for sharing Andrew Holleran's review of William E. Jones' True Homosexual Experiences: Boyd McDonald and Straight to Hell (which we discussed last night) in the Nov. 2016 Gay and Lesbian Review. As Tim notes, "There is nothing particularly revelatory here, but a nice summary with a few observations (and, of course, very well written)."

While most of those present at our discussion were not big fans of Jones' scattershot approach to his subject, I would still recommend the book to anyone curious about STH. Of course, there's no substitute for perusing the actual magazine, which I hope to do myself one day.

Last Exit to Bettyville

Back in May 2016, we discussed George Hodgman's best-selling memoir, Bettyville, in which he alternates descriptions of caring for his aging mother and bittersweet memories of growing up gay in a Midwestern town.  I'm sorry to report that he passed away on July 22 at the age of 60, per this New York Times  obituary, which concludes with one of my favorite passages from Bettyville:

In his book, Mr. Hodgman wrote of why he decided to stay in Paris and care for his mother: He preferred her company to the empty apartment that awaited him back in New York.

"Turns out I am a person who needs people," he wrote.  "I hate that."

In 2016 Paramount Television announced plans to develop a TV show based on the book, starring Shirley MacLaine and Matthew Broderick, but the project never came to fruition.  Alas.

OutWrite DC is almost here! Aug. 2-4

The DC Center's annual OutWrite festival starts in just over two weeks.  If you've been meaning to get some duplicate or unread LGBTQ books off your shelves, please consider donating them to the Center for sale that weekend.

You can drop off your donations during regular working hours anytime before Wed., July 31, at the Center, which is located in the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Building (2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105).  Contact Kestrel Coffee at kestrel@thedccenter.org  if you have any questions.

The Theory That Justified Anti-Gay Crime

Did you know that The New Yorker has an online-only department called "Under Review?"  (Neither did I.)  It currently features Caleb Crain's review of a new book by James Polchin, Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice before Stonewall. 

It's anything but cheerful, going by Crain's description, but it does sound fascinating.

A second book about "ONE" Magazine

Those of us present for last night's discussion of Masked Voices: Gay Men and Lesbians in Cold War America quibbled with some of author Craig M. Loftin's conclusions, which are surprisingly upbeat about gay life in the McCarthy era.

But we all concurred that Loftin has performed a real service by analyzing hundreds of letters sent by ordinary LGBT folk from across the United States and overseas to ONE Magazine, which existed from 1952 to 1967. However, we were disappointed that Loftin generally excerpts the letters instead of quoting them more fully.

Fear not!  It turns out Loftin has published a companion volume to that study, titled Letters to ONE: Gay and Lesbian Voices from the 1950s and 1960s, that gives those (generally anonymous) women and men their say. Like Masked Voices, it is a bit pricey, but I, for one, am convinced it will be worth it.