From Grace Paley’s “black voice” to Tony Khner’s actured gay inty “Angels Ameri,” what mak a story reprentative?
Contents:
CELEBRATG 10 YEARS OF GAY MARRIAGE
Boston-based novelist Christopher Castellani’s fourth novel, Leadg Men, is a fascatg examatn of one of the mid-twentieth century’s most trigug gay love stori, that of playwright Tennsee Williams and his lover, Frank Merlo. My origal plan was to wre a short novel about two great gay wrers om the perspectiv of their long-sufferg partners: Frank would tell his story of life wh Tennsee, and a guy named Sandro N— would tell his story of life wh John Horne Burns, the thor of 1947’s The Gallery, a Great Amerin Novel most Amerins have fotten. By double visibily, I mean, first, the tradnal closet, bee even though Frank and Tennsee were not hidg as a gay uple, they certaly weren’t celebrated the prs as the next Bogie and Ball.
FAVE FIVE: GAY FICTN SET ITALY
In the years after, as I was draftg var failed versns of Leadg Men, I read other queer books that extend that permissn and opened up all sorts of possibili as to what a novel uld do this blurry fictnal space: Colm Tóibín’s The Master, about Henry Jam (the scen of Jam sleepg wh Oliver Wenll Holm is still one of my favor all of fictn); Monique Tong’s The Book of Salt, about the gay Indoche ok who worked for Gert Ste and Alice B.