I consider myself fairly well read in the area of "gay literature". I mean sure, there is not a lot of it, but I read what there is, or at least some of it. I've read David Leavitt, Jim Grimsley, David Sedaris et al. I find gay literature interesting and avant guard. Well, for the most part. I just got done reading "A Better Place" by Mark A. Roeder. He's written several books about the gays so I broke down and read one. It sounded interesting on Amazon, but it was written like an episode of Seventh Heaven, but if Seventh Heaven actually admitted there were gays and had some hot man-on-man action. It was written where there is all this drama in their lives (sexual abuse, electroshock therapy, runaways, aliens, ok not aliens but everything else bad) but they are all ok with it because "I love you" "And I love you and together we're going to make it through." Barf. Come on. This stuff leaves people scarred for life, and you kids have the hots for each other and it'll all be ok? Whatever. (Can you say "have the hots for" anymore? Could you ever?) It was probably the most poorly written book I have EVER read. And I don't read the best stuff. But I think Harry Potter is more lifelike than that book.
I also read "Metes and Bounds" which was a great summer beach read. It was about a gay surfer growing-up and finding love. It was sweet, well-written, not a Pulitzer winner, but believable and emotional and fun. I enjoyed it.
I don't understand what makes some books gay literature and some not. If you go to Borders they have a Gay & Lesbian section. Most of the books are erotica or close. Some boooks you can only find in the Gay/Lesbian section, others are available in the regular literature section. For example, all of Michael Cunningham's books (except possibly the new one, I haven't read it yet) have some kind of homosexuality in them. Yet, without fail he is in the literature section. Maybe because he won a Pulitzer. The same with Michael Chabon. All the books I've read by him have a very important gay element, yet he is in literature.
Also curiously, it says on the jacket of Michael Chabon's books that he is married. Yet, all of his books involve the gays somehow. If he is straight, he writes a very convincing gay man. It's weird, if a books has gay elements, I automatically assume that the author is gay (I think Cunningham is). But I guess the person doesn't necessarily have to be gay. For example Michale Chabon, his writing is excellent and he writes about the gays even if he's straight. In a way it seems like a betrayal. Like how it seems wrong that Eric McCormack on Will & Grace is straight, but it should go to a gay actor. You wouldn't have a white actor play a black man, but I guess that's different. Can a white author write convincingly black characters? Or vice versa? Is there more to a black character than the color of his skin? Is there nothing more to a gay character than who he/she wants to sleep with?
I think that it would be funny if one of the Queer Eye guys turned out to be straight. The only one I think it could be would be Ted, but that would still be a longshot.
4 comments:
Not to side-step all of your questions, but here goes . . . I think Rowling has become a much better writer since the first Harry Potter book. While she'll never win a Pulitzer, her books are very creative, fun, and effective. Although, she does have a bit of a problem with plotting sometimes, but whatever.
I'm with you on the Ted thing. I don't think he's straight, but, he strikes me as the most likely to switch teams.
Way to go, Dan, on changing the subject.
Is it a gay thing to discuss literary theory in his blog? I'm kidding.
Interesting points. Sounds like something that could be discussed in a lit class.
I think it depends on the target of the book, or the goal of the book. Like Alex Cross - he's a character in a book series, and he's black. But James Patterson, the author, is white. But it didn't matter, because the books are crime thrillers, and the protagonist's race is irrelevent to the story. In that case, it's just an external issue.
But then, Elmore Leonard is also white but sometimes writes about black culture. So does it matter then? Or is it just a sketch of black culture by an outsider?
Is there more to being gay than your sexual preference? Many gay people fight for equality, and to be treated with sameness. I'm just like you; I just happen to want to sleep with a man (or woman). But is that not the case?
Gay and straight people know what it's like to be heartbroken, lonely, etc. So can a straight person write love from a gay perspective just by changing the characters around?
Could I ask any more questions?
Beckie
It's weird because I switch between thinking that it's my duty to read gay literature, and thinking it's pretentious and isolationistic. I read about the straights all the time, so it's not like I read ONLY about the gays.
I think it's very arrogant to think that someone cannot know a culture that he's not a part of. Like if a white child was raised by a black family his/her entire life, could you say she doesn't really know "black culture" since her/his skin is still white? The same thing with the gays, just because you're not one does not mean that you can't get as close as possible to it and understand it just as well.
Maybe it's what is written and not who it's written about. For example, a straight author could probably write about a gay relationship since it's probably very similar to a straight relationship. However, coming out would be different, because a straight person never had that experience. The same with a white author writing a black character. He can write about a detective trying to solve a thrilling murder mystery, since it would be the same for a black or white person. However it would be more difficult to write what it's like to grow up in the south during segregation, since a white author wouldn't have the same experience.
I think overall it's good for authors to try to write different characters. It creates more understanding and tolerance of any culture.
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