AmosL
08-27-2006, 08:09 AM
Edmund White Memoirs - A book review : A New Book from the Gay Man of Letters
AMOS LASSEN and Literary Pride
White, Edmund, "My Lives: An Autobiography", New York, HarperCollins, 2006. 356 pp.
Edmund White has long regarded as "the" gay man of letters. He has contributed continuously to the world of gay literature having written both fiction and non-fiction over the last forty years. Hailed as some as the "Marcel Proust" of America and demeaned my others for telling too much, his latest book gives us the nature of the man by looking at his personal life.
*********
White takes us on a tour of his sexual life beginning in the 1950's when he was a teenager and all that could be said about homosexuality was that a cure was needed for it (and a fate from which he could not be saved) to the 1960s when his classic autobiographical novel A Boy's Own Story was published and he was deemed "acceptable", through the tumultuous decades that followed and the changes that were made by the people who dealt with us, to the present time when he gained the reputation he has today as being a fine writer. This is quite a ride and to be able to read it all I say "hold onto your hats--you are in for quite a ride". He tells of his growing up and his bouts with psychotherapy, about his mother who can only be described by an understatement as flamboyant and demanding-- she was a therapist who used him for her own study and then had him be her escort to various night spots after she divorced his father. His father was a "macho man" who would not even wear a watch because he considered jewelry for men to be influenced by women who wanted to "demasculise" the male species. Yet it was on visits to his dad that White discovered the world of sex for pay and the even darker world of hustlers and those that frequent them.
*********
White takes us to Europe where he finds** enthusiasm and ignites his inner passion. But even more interesting is that he introduces us to the lovers of his life--those that are gone and those that are still here. He lets us see his experience with S and M, his life as a "man of the night", his women, his masters, his literary heroes and just a basic no holes barred look at this gay life. His sixty-five years, and his ups and his downs, his ins and his outs, his fame and his fall from grace--it is all here and it is quite a read.*
*********
White tells us that the reason he chose to write this book is because he felt that at age sixty-five he can "take a backward glance" while still in the life he has chosen for himself. And this quite a glance. Having authored 18 books and having life the kind of life he lived, I can only admire him for telling me about it. I do have to admit that I am quite jealous that I was not fortunate or unfortunate to have the chance to have his experiences.
*********
The book has been called "vital" and engrossing" because White only wrote what he wanted to write. Is this something new? Don't we all write and tell only what we want others to know? He does it with wit and a superb memory yet it is extremely personal and his writing is graceful and fluid yet emotional. Even his name dropping of those we hear about is done with elegance and élan.
It is not my favorite book that he has written but it rates high and without question one of the best books I have read so far this year. I recommend it highly and have chosen it to be the new selection for the Gay Reading Circle in Little Rock.
If you want more information on the reading circle, drop me a line at alassenamos@yahoo.com.
AMOS LASSEN and Literary Pride
White, Edmund, "My Lives: An Autobiography", New York, HarperCollins, 2006. 356 pp.
Edmund White has long regarded as "the" gay man of letters. He has contributed continuously to the world of gay literature having written both fiction and non-fiction over the last forty years. Hailed as some as the "Marcel Proust" of America and demeaned my others for telling too much, his latest book gives us the nature of the man by looking at his personal life.
*********
White takes us on a tour of his sexual life beginning in the 1950's when he was a teenager and all that could be said about homosexuality was that a cure was needed for it (and a fate from which he could not be saved) to the 1960s when his classic autobiographical novel A Boy's Own Story was published and he was deemed "acceptable", through the tumultuous decades that followed and the changes that were made by the people who dealt with us, to the present time when he gained the reputation he has today as being a fine writer. This is quite a ride and to be able to read it all I say "hold onto your hats--you are in for quite a ride". He tells of his growing up and his bouts with psychotherapy, about his mother who can only be described by an understatement as flamboyant and demanding-- she was a therapist who used him for her own study and then had him be her escort to various night spots after she divorced his father. His father was a "macho man" who would not even wear a watch because he considered jewelry for men to be influenced by women who wanted to "demasculise" the male species. Yet it was on visits to his dad that White discovered the world of sex for pay and the even darker world of hustlers and those that frequent them.
*********
White takes us to Europe where he finds** enthusiasm and ignites his inner passion. But even more interesting is that he introduces us to the lovers of his life--those that are gone and those that are still here. He lets us see his experience with S and M, his life as a "man of the night", his women, his masters, his literary heroes and just a basic no holes barred look at this gay life. His sixty-five years, and his ups and his downs, his ins and his outs, his fame and his fall from grace--it is all here and it is quite a read.*
*********
White tells us that the reason he chose to write this book is because he felt that at age sixty-five he can "take a backward glance" while still in the life he has chosen for himself. And this quite a glance. Having authored 18 books and having life the kind of life he lived, I can only admire him for telling me about it. I do have to admit that I am quite jealous that I was not fortunate or unfortunate to have the chance to have his experiences.
*********
The book has been called "vital" and engrossing" because White only wrote what he wanted to write. Is this something new? Don't we all write and tell only what we want others to know? He does it with wit and a superb memory yet it is extremely personal and his writing is graceful and fluid yet emotional. Even his name dropping of those we hear about is done with elegance and élan.
It is not my favorite book that he has written but it rates high and without question one of the best books I have read so far this year. I recommend it highly and have chosen it to be the new selection for the Gay Reading Circle in Little Rock.
If you want more information on the reading circle, drop me a line at alassenamos@yahoo.com.