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gay fiction greenwell

Until recently, gay lerary characters had to hi their inti. But even now the closet — and the li and ncealment impli — remas a surprisgly potent metaphor.

Contents:

GAY LERATURE IS OUT OF THE CLOSET. SO WHY IS DECEPTN A BIG THEME?

* gay fiction greenwell *

“In much the way that other male Amerin wrers, such as Hemgway, Baldw and Edmund Whe, have chosen Paris as the place which their lone protagonist n be tted and changed, Greenwell Sofia, the pal of Bulgaria, as his ldron … Greenwell displays an extraordary skill at handlg time … The wrg about sex achiev an unual pth of accuracy both about physil activy and emotnal unrcurrent … An exquise piece of wrg that a simple plative system to create a plex emotnal effect … One of the problems that any gay wrer fac is how to pict happs … Greenwell fully explor what fear and secrecy and solu look like for gay men … However, the send sectn of his book, lled ‘Lovg R., ’ he dramatiz happs … ‘The Frog Kg, ’ rivals John Updike’s ‘The Happit I Have Been, ’ set the same Christmas season, as a great Amerin story about happs.

Some of the most affectg and betiful scen his books have nothg to do wh sexual inty or gay sire but volve exquise observatns about others whose vulnerabily has touched the narrator’s heart...

GARTH GREENWELL'S CLEANNS INTERROGAT THE DEPTHS OF A GAY MAN'S HEART

What Belongs to You is a view of gay life far om the marriage-equaly foced ‘PR visn’ – but even public rtrooms, he says, there’s warmth to be found * gay fiction greenwell *

’” – Katy Waldman, “My Favore Fictn of 2020, ” The New Yorker“Greenwell, whose 2016 What Belongs to You tablished a new bar for lerary fictn wh s suoly elegant prose, returns wh a set of stunng vigt about a young gay man’s experienc Sofia, Bulgaria.

" – Kirk Reviews (Starred) “Absolutely spellbdg … Even when his ndor on rnal matters—specifilly, homosexual matters—plung ep to sadomasochistic terrory, his terpretatn of what’s gog on between his characters is so savvy and precise that you n’t help admirg s elegance … Exquise. ” – Ka Ahsan, AV Club“Garth Greenwell has joed the non of great gay wrers... Tatjana PrenzelApril 26, 2020Near the begng of Jam Baldw’s 1956 novel “Gvanni’s Room, ” the narrator, David, rells the moment at which he beme nsc of his homosexualy.

“Li are the natural food of boyhood, and he had eaten greedily, ” Forster wr of Mrice, who pledg no longer to feign an attractn to women, regnizg honty as his only chance for much of the 19th and 20th centuri, om Dorian Gray to Tom Ripley, the lie of the closet was the hge upon which queer lerature would pivot, reflectg what were then the often judicial or mortal sts of beg openly gay. Inscery, “merely a method by which we n multiply our personali, ” as Dorian Gray put , was the mo of ngrs gay men had been tght to adopt for the sake of self-prervatn; manifted self as a kd of characterologil tradn, a means by which the psychologil theater of the closet uld be dramatized, om Dorian Gray’s rhetoril fabritns to Tom Ripley’s serialized the most part, the closet now is not the potentially termal fate once was, but rather a layover the long journey to the self, an enclosure om which tth emerg. In much recent queer fictn are morn, mostly openly gay characters for whom self-nial and even outright ceptn have bee a way of is the guidg prciple of Peter Kispert’s new story llectn, “I Know You Know Who I Am, ” which gay men twist the tth by force of hab, often pursu of a mascule ial that feels otherwise out of reach.

A LTLE LIFE: THE GREAT GAY NOVEL MIGHT BE HERE

Jam Wood on novels by Garth Greenwell and Darryl Pckney about gay Amerins lookg for love Europe. * gay fiction greenwell *

And when ’s eventually rebuffed, his self-loathg be an enge for the novel’s up grâce, an act of treachery that leraliz the notn of the closet as a place perpetually at risk of “Apartment, ” Jam Gregor’s 2019 novel “Gog Dutch” volv a graduate stunt wh an aversn to honty: Richard is openly gay, but when an unassumg classmate, Anne, helps him wre his dissertatn, eventually takg over the project entirely, he enjoys the plagiaristic nvenience of her pany too much to tell her he’s attracted to men.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY FICTION GREENWELL

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iRsSlw"><a class="RubricLk-gRWSOU fgWnkQ bric__lk" href="/magaze/books"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Books</span></a></div></div></div><h1 data-ttid="ContentHearHed" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearHed-NCyCC iUEiRd NbxED hpJvIc">Unsuable Boys</h1></div><div class="ContentHearAccredatn-lfctVB enhwXT ntent-hear__accredatn" data-ttid="ContentHearAccredatn"><div class="ContentHearDek-bIqFFZ Mtme">Novels about Amerins lookg for love Europe.</div><div class="ContentHearByle-kmPyCa gvUmxJ"><div class="ContentHearByleContent-dpPmNn DRFq"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl ContentHearByl-cZqgyJ bqbBYQ"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH ivtvgj byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL eErqIx byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/jam-wood">Jam Wood</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2016-01-31T23:00:00-05:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA kEBrdf">January 31, 2016</time></div></div></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU hQrwCF bookmark large-screen"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kAEsuD viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU cjjxgx bookmark mobile"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG gBDqlf"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn iHBnEl llout--has-top-borr set-embedd-le" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="In Garth Greenwells dbut an Amerin is obssed wh a Bulgarian htler." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">In Garth Greenwell’s début, an Amerin is obssed wh a Bulgarian htler.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Illtratn by Mikkel Sommer</span></div></figure></div><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">About a third of the way through Garth Greenwell’s first novel, “What Belongs to You” (Farrar, Strs & Giroux), there occurs one of those moments that have bee formulaic ntemporary fictn-makg: the protagonist is summoned home; his father is ill, “gravely” so, and wants his son to e back, spe the fact that they have not spoken years. Such requts are a vice, part of the machery whereby one character is forced to reckon wh homeg, and th forced to teract wh another character; often, this brgs an entire fay together. This particular protagonist, who is the novel’s narrator, is a young Amerin who has been teachg at an Amerin school the Bulgarian pal, Sofia. His father is back the Stat, and nventn promis a lovgly scribed return, full of sweet stggle, savory ambivalence. We have all read the ctomary fictns. (Rear, I wrote one.)</p><p class="paywall">Greenwell rists the nsolatns of ctom. The narrator walks out of the school, holdg a paper py of the e-mail that brought him the news. He wanrs through Sofia, rememberg the paful seri of events that rulted his father’s banishment of him. What he rells is vivid and hurtful; he has a full larr of grievance. When the narrator was a child, his father divorced and remarried; he has been chronilly unfahful. But the sharper memory has to do wh the father’s rponse to the disvery of his son’s homosexualy. As a schoolboy a Southern Republin state (so we surmise; the state is unspecified), the narrator got close to another boy, who is referred to simply as “K.” The two beme tenr iends, uned their shared solu, polics, and love of books. The narrator sentially fell love wh K. but was young enough to be still workg out the gravy of his feelgs for his iend, and whether those feelgs were likely to be reciproted. One night, the two boys embrace, touch each other’s naked torso, sleep next to each other. But they go no further than that, and the next morng K., who is feelg unwell, seems to put a new distance between the two of them. A few weeks later, as if to punish the narrator, K. announc that he has a girliend. In an extraordary and almost unbearable scene, K. asks the narrator to e over to his hoe, and mak him watch as he and his girliend have sex. The narrator unrstands that he is beg ed a triumphal lson: “I was there not as guard but as dience. I was there to see how different om me he was.” Walkg Sofia, the adult narrator remembers this early pa, and remembers, too, how his father me to read his diary, and how vlently he rpond to the revelatn of his son’s sexualy: “You disgt me, he said, do you know that, you disgt me, how uld you be my son?”</p><p class="paywall">In Sofia, the narrator has reached an area of scbby ground near Soviet-style apartment blocks. He cis that he will not return to Ameri: “I wouldn’t answer, I wouldn’t see my father aga, I wouldn’t mourn him or pour earth on him.” He balls up the paper and throws to a ltle urban stream that flows unexpectedly close to the apartments.</p><p class="paywall">This long swerve om and around nventn, which tak about forty pag, offers as good an example as any of the origaly and power of Garth Greenwell’s slim novel. Instead of returng to Ameri, the wrer stays si the narrator’s head: the walk through Sofia is sentially an extend stream of nscns (which ends when the narrator toss his memori to a real stream). It is rare to fd a first-time novelist who’s so sure of what to choose and what to abjure; the novel has enough social tail to do s work, but very ltle by the standards of ntemporary realism. We don’t know the narrator’s name, or where or when, exactly, he grew up. We don’t disver much else about his father; K. don’t appear aga; there is no superfluo backstory. The novel ntas no direct dialogue, only reported speech; scen are remembered by the narrator, not vented by an omniscient thor, which means that the wrg don’t have to volve self those feats of startup mimis that form the grammar, and gamble, of most novels. In an age of the sentence fetish, Greenwell thks and wr, as Woolf or Sebald do, larger uns of prehensn; so nsummate is the pacg and ntrol, seems as if he unrstands this sectn to be a sgle long sentence.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Rhythm, orr, mic, and lucid exposn: there is unniably a mandar qualy to the way that Greenwell narrows the ame of his quiry and then perfectly fills this rced space. But if the novel’s formal ntrol has a rare licy there is nothg at all hermetic about the story the narrator tells, which has a bter urgency. Not long after his arrival Sofia, the narrator enunters Mko, a handsome young Bulgarian htler. He pays him for sex, a transactn that gurat a relatnship of profound imbalance. On the one hand, the narrator has a greedy sexual hunger for Mko, and may ed be love wh him; his needs for someone who appears likely to abandon him seems helplsly bound up wh the trma of his father’s abandonment. On the other hand, the narrator enjoys a eedom and a privilege that Mko, who is a poor drifter and who seems “more or ls homels,” n only dream of. The asymmetry stas their relatnship. The narrator begs to bridle at Mko’s repeated requts for money and assistance. He tells the Bulgarian that he don’t want to be one of his clients. But Mko is a wily manipulator, motivated at tim, perhaps, by genue affectn for the narrator, and at other moments by a durable stct for self-protectn. He tells the narrator that he is a special iend, that their relatnship is about more than sex; but he do so wh clumsy threats, potg out that a mark of his affectn is the fact that he has not stolen thgs om him. The narrator asks him to leave.</p><p class="paywall">In one way or another, both lerally and symbolilly, Mko—the only character the story to be given a name—is always announcg to the narrator, “You owe me.” Greenwell subtly lays bare the tormentg dynamic of a relatnship stctured by equaly. The two men speak Bulgarian, which means that the narrator, whose Bulgarian is poor, n’t always unrstand Mko, and exprs himself basilly, whout “any of my ual fens.” Sometim the narrator wants to “save” Mko; sometim he reils om him, or is menaced by him. Always, he sir him. He nclus that Mko has never been anythg other than “alien” to him, bee love is not merely “a matter of lookg at someone . . . but also of lookg wh them, of facg what they face.”</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">Once aga, the novel habs nventnal motifs orr to renovate them. Stori about htlers or prostut are monplace both straight and gay fictn. But Greenwell tells a new story about client and prostute. Mko and the narrator vlently part pany, but are brought back together when the Bulgarian turns up one night at the narrator’s pleasant apartment to tell him that he has syphilis, and that the narrator should probably get himself tted. For the narrator, the news reviv memori of the <em class="small">AIDS</em> era, when he was growg up: “Disease was the only story anyone ever told about men like me where I was om, and flattened my life to a moraly tale, which I uld be eher chaste or nmned.” But he seems to fd hard to pe the moraly tale. He remembers gettg tted for H.I.V. when he was young, and beg given the all-clear, and feelg almost “disappotment. . . . Maybe was jt that I wanted the world to have meang, and that the meang I wanted to have was chastisement.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The rear n’t help makg a nnectn wh the narrator’s earlier story about K., who felt ill the morng after the two boys first embraced. When the narrator’s father drove K. home, the r smelled of “foulns”—K. had thrown up, and the odor still clung to him. In the rearview mirror, the narrator’s father was watchful, as if he spected somethg. But the narrator felt that K. was turng agast him, allyg himself wh the father: “In that foul air I felt him intify me as foulns. It was as though he felt my father was health and I ntagn, and I was at once bewilred by this and unsurprised.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="2dw5xn"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="mxsnf4"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Greenwell knows what he is dog, and knows the long history of the implied relatnship, both risted and exploed by gay wrers, between homosexualy and disease or disabily: the sectn about the syphilis revelatn is entled “Pox.” Greenwell’s novel is brilliantly self-aware, and may be animatg the ghost of J. R. Ackerley, whose father died of syphilis, and whose novel, “We Thk the World of You,” ncerns a gay middle-class narrator and the love he has for an elive workg-class man. “What Belongs to You” is fairly explicly about shame, punishment, and disgt, among other thgs. What is unual is not the prence of the them but the book’s plited embrace of “foulns,” and a barely supprsed longg for punishment, a longg embodied the narrator’s relatnship wh Mko. Greenwell’s novel imprs for many reasons, not least of which is how perfectly fulfills s tentns. But gas a different power om s uneasy atmosphere of psychic stabily, of nfsn and penence, of difficult forc acknowledged but barely mastered and beyond the nsc ntrol of even this gifted novelist.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Darryl Pckney’s send novel, “Black Dtschland” (Farrar, Strs & Giroux), too, sends s gay narrator abroad, and , too, has a watchful apprehensn of s lerary antecents. Jed Goodfch, a young, middle-class black Chigoan, has e to Wt Berl the early neteen-eighti. Jed, like the German cy, is full of self-nsc historicy. He is search of Christopher Isherwood’s Berl, of urse, and also search of a distguished, pre-ma inty—“that person I so admired, the black Amerin expatriate.” Much of the edy and poignancy of the pirque story has to do wh Jed’s failure to rise to the challenge of this rather exalted notn of inty. Unlike Isherwood, Jed is not obvly a wrer. Unlike his Chigo Ruthanne, nicknamed Cello, a brilliant classil pianist who now liv succsfully Berl wh her wealthy German hband and their four children, and who, while growg up Chigo, “reprented Negro Achievement,” Jed droops wh woe. A young man, he’s already a fuck-up emer, a former addict and alholic, h om rehab. In Berl, he is largely unsuccsful love, squanrg his affectns first on a German, Maned, who is straighter than he is gay, and then on a French Wt Ain man who leav him for someone else. The one element of his life that sparkl, at least termtently, is that he has wangled his way to a job wh Wt Berl’s celebry archect and theorist, the gdily named N. I. Rosen-Montag.</p><p class="paywall">Pckney’s narrator, who has tctur of another fictnal Chigo dreamer, Augie March, is engaged that great ic pirque stggle, which is to brg the by si of his head to workable alignment wh objective realy: “I’d lived my life mpg out other people’s stori, wag for my own to beg, but unable to get out of the great head and to my actual.” He don’t achieve that, but history forc a kd of renciliatn, for Jed’s sojourn Wt Berl spans the neteen-eighti, so that we beg the book a cy set apart for fantasy and self-projectn and end as the Wall down, wh the actual forcg s btal way onto the streets. The cy whose ma bs had seemed to be culture and partyg—“the floatg island of neon and pleasure ep si Communist terrory,” “the ee zone of stayg up all night,” a place stuck “the goln age of cha smokg”—is changg, and our flailg hero mt leave to fd another arena.</p><p class="paywall">Where Greenwell ratns his effects, Pckney stters, cuts, digrs. The text equently jumps back to Jed’s childhood and adolcence Chigo, mov forward to Wt Berl, and then back aga to rell Jed’s parents and siblgs. Jed breaks off to me on historil parallels. There are equent riffs on great black figur, like Du Bois, Armstrong, Jam Brown, Ella Fzgerald, and the functn a ltle like the European masters of thought and actn voked “The Adventur of Augie March,” at once private goads and ironic measur of prent failure. The Berl part of Jed’s story n seem shapels, even herent plac, though is never whout charm. Sometim one has the sense—this is the very oppose of Greenwell’s novel—of a stream of nscns whout a stream. Or perhaps is a nscns that is missg: Jed n seem an amorpho wns, never que prent his own sentenc. The book’s form, like s prose, is amb, risky, and tak a ltle gettg ed to. Pckney evintly wants to enact and embody some of the Dada-like surrealy of Wt Berl, and needs his quick jump cuts: “Stravsky had three face-lifts, Hayn said.” Or: “Maned prsed my left hand flat between his hands and said that I had a Balzac thg gog wh ffee.” Or: “No fact ever killed off a myth, they say. Cello was boilg eggs.” Sentenc expand, even at the st of some stra, orr to absorb as much of Berl as possible: “I had no trouble seeg the jtice of Maned’s cricisms when we discsed Rosen-Montag over cigarett by the Hansa warehoe slated to bee a children’s clic.”</p><p class="paywall">The novel is full of wondro thgs—several genial character portras, funny and exact pictns of Wt Berl (bars, hippie mun, radil tyranny, bourgeois bohemianism), betiful evotns of Chigo (“I uld feel Lake Michigan. You uld feel all of the Great Lak and their nspiraci of ice crystals and surface wds”). Dpe the gravy of Jed’s burns and dilemmas (race, succs, sany, Ameri, Germany), the book’s tone is ic, pleasgly spry, and the prose breaks naturally to wty one-lers: “Maned had a type: the most attractive woman the room.” Or this piece of perfected wisdom: “One of the surpris of growg up was fdg out what thgs had been about.” Jed’s charismatic, self-volved parents—his father by nng a clg black newspaper, his mother off dog charable works—are tenrly drawn (and have a stronger fictnal valy than s watchful narrator). Chigo is a cy full of people “who uld not get away.” Berl, by ntrast, belongs to those who have jt arrived, to the young. It is a place where—like this novel—time n be manipulated, “eher stretched or disunted,” bee no one, or no one Jed’s crowd, ever go to sleep. It exists for experiment and self-fashng, an expansn and easement all the more prec to a young, gay Ain-Amerin who has been nied that eedom at home. Even if, pecially if, is jt the eedom to fail. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="5xy1wt"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2016/02/08" data-reactroot="">Febary 8 & 15, 2016</a>, issue.</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/jam-wood">Jam Wood</a>, a staff wrer at The New Yorker sce 2007, teach at Harvard. His latt book is “<a href=">Ser Noticg</a>,” a llectn of says.</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="TagCloudWrapper" class="TagCloudWrapper-gGgndx ctyZyK ContentFooterTagCloud-krQmRG ZLGh"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudSectnHear-cOforY iUEiRd bPyAoD kQQRmu">More:</span><a href="/tag/books" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Books</span></a><a href="/tag/rope" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Europe</span></a><a href="/tag/expatriat" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Expatriat</span></a><a href="/tag/novels" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Novels</span></a></div></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ContentFooterNewsletterContentWrapper-bmjtna kixtae"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper-fCqqkN jKSBhE newsletter-subscribe-form ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper-fpMElW eglIBL"><h3 class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDangeroHed-kRwWjt jjsHHz newsletter-subscribe-form__hed ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf">Books & Fictn</h3><div class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDek-kXonvc cKOhTM newsletter-subscribe-form__k">Short stori and poems, pl thor terviews, profil, and tal om the world of lerature.</div></div><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper-keARJE hVWbzr"><form class="form-wh-validatn NewsletterSubscribeFormValidatn-iCYa-Dt dweEln" id="newsletter" name="newsletter" novalidate="" method="POST"><span class="TextFieldWrapper-Pzdqp hNhevp text-field" data-ttid="TextFieldWrapper__email"><label class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TextFieldLabel-klrYvg iUEiRd stdEm fvoOvz text-field__label text-field__label--sgle-le" for="newsletter-text-field-email" data-ttid="TextFieldLabel__email"><div class="TextFieldLabelText-cvvxBl eeDYTb">E-mail addrs</div><div class="TextFieldInputContaer-jcMPhb oFrOs"><put type="email" aria-scribedby="privacy-text" aria-valid="false" id="newsletter-text-field-email" required="" name="email" placeholr="E-mail addrs" class="BaseInput-fAzTdK TextFieldControlInput-eFUxkf eGzzTT laFPCK text-field__ntrol text-field__ntrol--put" data-ttid="TextFieldInput__email"/></div></label><button class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv dwpimO button button--utily TextFieldButton-csBrgY edxbrw" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="subm"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN hzwRuG button__label">Sign up</span></button></span><div id="privacy-text" tabx="-1" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDisclaimer-bTVtiV bsgLJZ"><span><p>By signg up, you agree to our <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">User Agreement</a> and <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement</a>. 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SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Books</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2011/10/31/realy-ttg" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Realy Ttg</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2011/10/31/realy-ttg" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Realy Ttg" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">A first novel about poetry and imposture Spa.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Jam Wood</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2011/02/07/a-dogs-life-joan-acella" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" 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media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="A Dog’s Life" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">How a wrer disvered his greatt subject.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Joan Acella</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="On the Run wh Tmp’s “Billn-Dollar Lawyer”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Billn-Dollar Jogger</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">On the Run wh Tmp’s “Billn-Dollar Lawyer”</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="On the Run wh Tmp’s “Billn-Dollar Lawyer”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">What do the former Print have mon wh Gucci Mane, Cardi B, and Waka Flocka? They’ve all had Drew Fdlg, an Atlanta trial lawyer, on retaer.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Charl Bethea</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center 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