Mr. Gay was a self-tght novelist om ral Tennsee who emerged om obscury his late 50s wh crilly praised books the Southern Gothic style.
Contents:
- “STORI OM THE ATTIC” BY WILLIAM GAY
- GAY SOUTHERN WRER SNAPS HIS FGERS AND THKS OF HOME
- WILLIAM GAY DI AT 70; WRER TIED TO TENNSEE
“STORI OM THE ATTIC” BY WILLIAM GAY
The stgglg homosexual has been a force southern l, though often as a sendary character or as the unregnized force that s liv. The “dirty b” beg the homosexual part. The southern them Williams’ life—hopelsns, madns, reprsed homosexualy, alholism, rentment, impossible love—all play out geoly his work.
In , the life of the ma character, Asher Sharp, is forever changed by his nnectn wh two gay men who help his son. After gettg to know the gay uple who helped his son, Asher n no longer stomach the Old World homophobia that afflicts his ngregatn and the lol urthoe, who was refg to give out marriage licens to gay upl, and his own life, wh his separatn om his gay brother. And yet, phras like “Tmp Country” also rce an entire regn to a sgle, homogeno, ignorant ncept.
While many of the books explore the hardships LGBT southerners face, I’ve ma a pot to clu texts that highlight the joys of beg Southern and gay as hell, y’all. I uldn’t wre a list of great Southern lerature whout cludg at least one Southern gothic choice, and I uldn’t wre a list of gay Southern lerature whout cludg Tman Capote, so here I’ve managed both.
GAY SOUTHERN WRER SNAPS HIS FGERS AND THKS OF HOME
In “Ben’s Ey”, Ernt Clay tells the posthumo story of his longtime partner, Louie, growg up as a black gay man the South and disverg his inty. In the terview below, Ray talks about g poetry to channel and exprs his grief, why he’s equal parts Suzanne and Julia Sugarbaker, and the importance of givg gay Southern wrers an outlet to exprs anthology of says and poems lled The Queer South that he’s currently edg is schled for publitn October of 2014, and you n fd his book He Will Lgh I have to start by askg about the tagle on your webse: “Equal Parts Suzanne and Julia Sugarbaker. While that certaly was not an affirmg place to grow up, pecially realizg that I was gay, I did learn the power of words the church.
I feel like we all know what means to be a Southern wrer, but what do mean to be a Southern poet and, your se, a gay Southern poet? DR: Gay Southern wrers are nothg new.
As a gay wrer the South, I thk ’s important to be visible and to talk about my experienc as a gay need look no further than last week’s legislative actn Mississippi to realize that there are still major threats and challeng to beg gay the South.
WILLIAM GAY DI AT 70; WRER TIED TO TENNSEE
Bgraphers have ntually bated Whman’s sexual orientatn; his poetry, particularly Leav of Grass, which faced ser censorship after s publitn, ntas several homoerotic imag, however others argue that this was untentnal. He often nied that there was any homoerotic subtext his wrg, yet those who knew him claimed that their relatnships, he was rather ank about his sexualy. Osr Wil (who also appears on this list), after meetg Whman 1882, was adamant that Whman was gay, and even told the activist Gee Cecil Iv, “I have the kiss of Walt Whman still on my lips.