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The Kidd Tutorial
A one year course in creative
writing and the humanities
LINE OF INQUIRY SAMPLE IV
NATHAN S. HAZARD
Men on Men
The Depiction of Homosexuality in Contemporary Queer Male Literature
I’d like to think that in our writing, we aren’t trapped by what we do with our dicks. You want to be out there, but you want to be out there for all of you.
–Michael Cristofer, writer/director, in Out interview, March 2001My initial concern on entering the third floor gay and lesbian section of Powell’s was simple: Now, why is there a separate gay and lesbian section? Queer studies, sure. But gay and lesbian literature…that was problematic for me. I wasn’t exactly sure why, but I knew it was something I needed to explore – to find out why the segregation itched my conscience, and why everyone else seemed okay with it.
The complications extended beyond the third floor of Powell’s, however. I had generally been dissatisfied with the majority of labeled and separated “queer lit” I had read since putting my reservations aside, specifically queer male fiction. As a fiction writer and a queer male, I have an association with these writers in the same cultural moment as myself and can’t help but feel misrepresented in a way. My dissatisfaction led to questioning the establishment of published queer literature and its motives.
The starting point seems to be defining what I was dissatisfied with, the main issue being stigmas placed on homosexuality, re-affirming stereotypes. In a world so saturated with media stereotyped models, I think it is important to examine the glossy examples of mouth-fed culture many happily swallow down. I feel especially in situations with minority or under-represented groups, the ground is more fertile for stereotypes – simply due to the lack of understanding. The media has already had a heyday with homosexuality and established many shared misconceptions of homosexuals (the Diva, the Gym Bunny, the Comic Relief, etc.). The scariest part I feel is the power of a single media image and its potential to affect all successive images. For example, has the media fully recovered from the [strangely] comically received Ellen coming-out episode?The realm of fiction is just as laden with lustrous images of promiscuous flamers, leather-clad Joes, lonely middle-aged AIDS sufferers, muscle-bound pretty boy clubbers, and sex-obsessed perverts – which make up the majority of what is shelved in Powell’s and every other bookstore’s “pink triangle” section. These images become typecast literary archetypes of the gay male.
I suppose I could say queer lit is just not my thing and move on to something that I can relate to, but that hardly seems fair – not being able to relate to others in my sub-culture? Nor do I want naïve assumptions and images placed on a group I am “a part of.” This is why many queers, myself included, tend to turn away from public correlation with the gay sub-culture. This option is problematic as well because I am not ashamed of being gay. Furthermore, I am a writer who wants to write queer characters, but without falling into the realm of the stereotypical. I want to be a writer (who is queer), not a queer writer – my subject matter may not always be about gay themes, and there will be no drag queens (necessarily) providing a soundtrack. I don’t want my gay characters to be quintessentially queer tokens or novelties – the point of the character is not that he or she is queer, but that he or she is human.
This led to a series of questions regarding the queer lit before me: Who is writing it? For whom is it being written? Who benefits from it? Who is excluded? Why is it being written? From what perspective? Is it based in fact or is it pure fiction? Are the representations accurate? Who decides? If they fit stereotypes, but are true, are they still stereotypes? This led me to a truth: Sometimes stereotypes are so rampant because they are rooted in legitimacy. Perhaps the representations are true of many gay men. It is possible that the reason queer lit garners so much (of what I would label) smut is because it really exists – and though I understand that, why is it that there are few stereotypes of non-sex-obsessed, average, sweet queer boys? Why is love rarely a subject over sex? It becomes a hunt for Bigfoot, searching the books for a character to relate to, staring at the grainy patch in the photo, trying to make out the facial features like that of a man…
Someone to relate to – is that what we, as readers, want out of fiction? When I look at it in that respect, I think of the multitudes of coming out stories in the anthologies I’ve read, inserted between cruising, sex and death. These stories can serve as comfort for those newly coming out, and therefore can sell. Then I wonder why there are not other kinds of role models within queer lit. More questions: What motivates the creation of the characters in these stories? How do the media, market, and other outside forces affect these choices? What sells? Why would a writer choose to create characters that portray queer lifestyle in a negative light? Or is it that perhaps he does not see these images as negative? Gay liberation has led many gay men to aggressive pride of the entire lifestyle. Is it possible that many gay men do not see the images as stereotypes at all, but as an honest depiction of a portion of the lifestyle?
A large part of what I have read has been predominantly by white, middle-class writers – where is the representation of other race/class structures? In an Introduction to Sundays At Seven, a queer anthology from A Different Light bookstore in LA, James Carroll Pickett (compiler) expresses his disappointment in not publishing a wider range of ethnically diverse writers. “Multiculturalism remains for me not so much a politically correct philosophical stance, as an accurate reflection of the reality in our neighborhoods” (9). If the writers are out there, then where are their voices?
As I explored a local bookstore’s queer studies section, I happened upon the ‘masculinity studies’ section. I opened a text and thumbed through the index looking for “homosexuality.” Like Virginia Woolf at the library, looking up “women” to find “wife-beating” and “marriage,” the only homo- prefix belonged to “homophobia.” I flipped to the brief section, a little over a paragraph that described homophobia as a reaction to “those” lacking the masculinity “we heterosexual men” embody, thereby threatening “us,” the heterosexual male. Disgusted, I replaced the book. Are gay men so ostracized from the objective of masculinity that they cease to be masculine? As Devo asked, “Are we not men?” How and to what level does masculinity play into the conception of homosexuals by [both gay and non-gay] society? How does this relay in the realm of fiction? What judgments of masculinity are made of queer writing and by whom?
Another major factor playing on contemporary queer male lit is AIDS. Before AIDS, the gay lifestyle was completely different, and would it not make sense that the literature would mirror that? Since AIDS, there has also been a shift in how non-gay society has received homosexuals and homosexuality in itself – from revulsion to pity – thus changing the audience and reaction to gay writing as well. Being raised in the age of AIDS has definitely affected my comprehension of homosexuality and now has made me contemplate generational differences within the queer community.
Perhaps the reason I do not relate to most queer lit is because the writers currently in their prime are of a different era in the queer community. There is a rising group of young, rebellious, postmodern “kweers” that do not center their lives on AIDS, leather bars, or club drugs. An article I read in Tablet, an Olympian weekly newspaper took on such a revolutionary stance, titled “I Wanna Be a Gay Wing nut.” Larry-bob, the columnist discussed plans to make large signs with slogans such as “DISCO CAUSES CANCER – BAN GAY CLONING – GOING TO THE GYM MEANS LESS TIME FOR ART.” Larry-bob later in the column lectures a club full of “drugged out mindless gymboys” to take responsibility and abandon pointless sex, drugs, and vanity to help in the fight for justice. Larry-bob is not the only “kweer” out there – there is an emerging generation that defies both the Gay-singularity theory and the Merging (or “Blenders”) theory. These groups define queer writers as predominantly focused on an all-gay audience and subject matter (gay-singularity) and writing that merges with the heterosexual world, creating work non-queer readers can relate to as well (“Blenders”). The Tablet article, written in an activist style confronts both groups, pushing a radical revolution of art and politics to makeover current queer culture.
It is necessary to establish a series of questions that run throughout each reading I have selected in order to keep the important factors fresh and accessible. To start the ball rolling: Who is writing it? Whom is it written for? What representations of race and class are included? What region is being depicted? What relationship does the writer have with his subject? What ideas about homosexuality/gay culture are being projected? What biographical information is necessary to validate the writer’s claims? What generation of the queer community is depicted/is the writer from? Hopefully through asking these types of questions, we can uncover a better understanding of what queer literature is, to the writer as well as the reader.
Where queer literature will go from its present state is hard to gauge, as Edmund White assents, “What seems undeniable is that there is a gay literary movement in America, even if no one can exactly define it” (278).
Annotated Bibliography
Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. By Tony Kushner. [Dir. John B. Schmor. University Theatre, Eugene. 10 Nov. 2001.]
The stage play, Angels, served as the final marker of its cultural moment: the late-eighties ACT UP phase of gay culture. Rich with cultural dialogue in the political vernacular. Though it ended an era, it influenced successors/a genre (i.e. Rent).
Cecil B. Demented, Dir. John Waters. Artisan Entertainment, 2000.
Written and directed by gay cult icon John Waters (“I’m 100% gay and about 20% in gay society.”). The “undisputed titan of bad taste” uses sexuality and fetish to perverse extremes in his comedic films. I chose Cecil to illustrate innovative new directions by queer artists: specifically, highlighting two male characters, one whom is gay and the other who wishes he could be gay for the other (“I am so ashamed of my heterosexuality!”).
The Celluloid Closet. Dir. Rob Enstein & Jeffrey Friedman. Columbia/Tristar Releases, 1996.
Film documentary version of Vito Russo’s comprehensive book. Explores history of homosexual depiction and politics in Hollywood. Creates a fascinating diptych with historical depiction in fiction.
Cooper, Bernard. “101 Ways to Cook a Hamburger.” Sundays At Seven: Choice Words from A Different Light’s Gay Writers Series. Ed. Rondo Mieczkowski. San Francisco: Androgyny Books, Inc., 1996. 17-24.
A memoir on childhood first love and first encounter with labels like “fag.” Written with honesty and wit – A good example of “why write gay?”
Cooper, Dennis. “Introducing Horror Hospital.” Wrong. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1992. 43-54.
A strong adherent to the “gay singularity” in fiction, Cooper’s graphic style and dark subject matter is often revolting. However, “Introducing…” portrays queer youth in a diverse context which I enjoyed happening upon.
Corn, Alfred. “Sexual Politics.” From Part of His Story, excerpted in Best American Gay Fiction 3. Ed. Brian Bouldrey. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. 73-79.
Though Part of His Story is “story of grief and love in the age of AIDS”, the excerpt only implies a future loss – yet the theme is apparent. PoHS also exemplifies queer male generational differences.
Cullin, Mitchell. “Sifting Through.” Best American Gay Fiction 2. Ed. Brian Bouldrey. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997. 286-303.
A story about a group of adolescent boys, one of them queer, and the rest surprisingly okay with it. Seems almost idealistic, but honest, marking a generational, cultural moment: The shift toward a future of queer lit.
Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1998.
The Hours is both homage to Virginia Woolf and very much its own creature – he intertwines her story with those of two more contemporary women seamlessly. I will use The Hours as an example of the “evolving” gay novel.
Goldstein, Rob. “Two Stories.” Sundays At Seven: Choice Words from A Different Light’s Gay Writers Series. Ed. Rondo Mieczkowski. San Francisco: Androgyny Books, Inc., 1996. 103-105.
These short shorts are dense with Georgian queer night-culture and colloquial language.
Goodwin, Joseph P. “There’s No Version Like Perversion.” More Man than You’ll Ever Be: Gay Folklore and Acculturation in Middle America. Bloomingdale & Indianapolis: Indiana University press, 1989. 29-60.
A speculative look at gay jokes and relationships between gay social circles – a Freudian take on jokes cohering community (like yo’ mama jokes = reverence). I will look at this text in lieu of the gay community/stereotype dichotomy.
Greer, Andrew Sean. “The Future of the Flynns.” Best American Gay Fiction 3. Ed. Brian Bouldrey. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. 171-179.
Postmodern brilliance, original and promising – I see Greer as another writer on the upswing of the Queer evolution movement.
Grimsley, Jim. Foreword to Best American Gay Fiction 3. Ed. Brian Bouldrey. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. Xi-xiii.
Commentary on the politics of labels in literature – what is “gay” lit? The foundational mindset of my inquiry.
Haile, Mark. “Miz Lou Has a Reason to Smile, Oh Yes.” Sundays At Seven: Choice Words from A Different Light’s Gay Writers Series. Ed. Rondo Mieczkowski. San Francisco: Androgyny Books, Inc., 1996. 106-109.
A group of black drag queens, an unconscious, naked white guy, and narration in stream-of-consciousness cultural vernacular. A piece I am looking at in culture/stereotype context.
Harris, Daniel. “The Kitschification of AIDS,” “Glad-to-Be-Gay Propaganda.” The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture. New York: Hyperion, 1997. 219-238, 239-271.
Two insightful looks at commercialism and gay culture. First, the price tag of guilt-relief and the red-ribbon-catalog-of-gifts propaganda of the AIDS commercial sub-culture. Second, a historical timeline of “gay pride” and its ultimate demise with the “death” of gay culture.
Heim, Scott. “Deep Green, Pale Purple.” Best American Gay Fiction 3. Ed. Brian Bouldrey. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. 195-207.
A young boy and his queer big brother – a story about “maggot and faggot,” as their abusive father named them. Beautifully written and healing – Could belong to an anthology called Chicken Soup for the Gay Soul.
Hildebrandt, Eric. “Fear the Blenders.” Tablet 15 June 2001: 19.
This article by queer youth writer exemplifies a revolutionary trend in emerging “kweer” culture.
Holleran, Andrew. “The House sitter,” “In September, the Light Changes.” In September, the Light Changes. New York: Hyperion, 1999. 251-264, 295-306.
Holleran’s witty, urbane characters who vacation in Key West or Fire Island (“not the only types of gay men, just those Holleran has chosen to write about”) – stereotypes or just “people with complex emotional lives”? I will discuss “The House sitter” in this context and “In September…” as a generational post-AIDS example.
Leavitt, David. “Saturn Street.” Arkansas: Three Novellas. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
The story of a gay man who delivers lunches to homebound people with AIDS and falls in love with one of his clients. “Leavitt chillingly captures the sense of a devastated gay community in which everyone now ‘operates from fear.’”
Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel. New York: Viking, 1998.
Originally published in1912, Death is a founding literary queer text. A symbol-laden story of aestheticism and decadence, Mann's best-known novella exemplifies the author's regard for Sigmund Freud's writings on the unconscious.
Mendelsohn, Daniel. “Decline and Fall: How Gay Culture Lost Its Edge.” Gay Men at the Millennium: Sex, Spirit, and Community. Ed. Michael Lowenthal. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1997. 236-251.
This revolutionary look at gay culture assesses fiction, film, queer magazines, and AIDS as attributing to/examples of the evolution of the gay scene.
Nardi, Peter. “Anything for a Sis, Mary: An Introduction.” Gay Masculinities. Ed. Peter Nardi. Thousand Oaks, London: Sage Publications, Inc., 2000. 1-11.
A survey of masculinity in historical and contemporary contexts as relates to homosexuality. Includes ideas of hypermasculinity (leather bars) and effect of AIDS on gay masculinities.
Ohi, Kolin J. M. Prologue from A Backward Glance. Excerpted in Best American Gay Fiction 2. Ed. Brian Bouldrey. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997. 72-84.
The prologue to Ohi’s novel is rich and complex, touching on being Japanese American during Pearl Harbor, experiencing Manzanar, and gay life in the late ‘40s. A striking example of multiculturalism and the “merging” style of queer lit.
The Opposite of Sex. Dir. Don Roos. Columbia/Tristar Studios, 1998.
A scathing comedy that has potential to offend everyone. Plays relentlessly with stereotypes, including suburban queer bourgeois, AIDS, and latent bi-sexuality.
Peck, Dale. “Rolling Back the Stone.” Best American Gay Fiction 2. Ed. Brian Bouldrey. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997. 268-285. & Martin and John. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1993.
“Rolling…” is a memoir about Peck’s relationship with his father told through disquieting episodes laden with issues of masculinity, homophobic tension, and disappointment. In Peck’s debut novel (Martin & John), the realities of gay life in the wake of AIDS are examined through the story of John's life, and in the stories John writes in his journal after his lover's death.
Peterson, Clair. “Three Small Memoirs.” Sundays At Seven: Choice Words from A Different Light’s Gay Writers Series. Ed. Rondo Mieczkowski. San Francisco: Androgyny Books, Inc., 1996. 27-28.
Poetically written shorts that resonate long after the last sentence. Queer specific but addressing universal truths.
Proulx, Annie. “Brokeback Mountain.” The New Yorker Magazine. [Issue?]
I haven’t read this yet, but it is a short story about gay men written by a woman – an interesting concept to investigate in context of ‘Who is writing it?’
Scott, Joan. “The Evidence of Experience.” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Eds. Henry Abelove, Michéle Aina Barale, David M. Halperin. New York: Routledge, 1993. 397-415.Scott says that the identity of “different” groups (women, homosexuals) is often assumed and undervalued – that the “difference” becomes natural. Scott argues that it is important to analyze how that “naturalness of ‘difference’” is historically produced. This text argues that writing about gay themes is important because, frankly, it there, it’s real.
Sedgwick, Eve. “Epistemology of the Closet.” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Eds. Henry Abelove, Michéle Aina Barale, David M. Halperin. New York: Routledge, 1993. 45-61.
Outlines theory of “the closet,” and argues that it has been a part of gay/lesbian life for last century, before and after the liberation movement started after Stonewall. Explores gender definition (“third sex”) and minoritizing vs. universalizing homosexuality. A foundation on contemporary queer issues.
Selden, Daniel L. “‘Just When You Thought It Was Safe to go Back in the Water…’” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Eds. Henry Abelove, Michéle Aina Barale, David M. Halperin. New York: Routledge, 1993. 221-223.
This radical critique on AIDS and its dangerous media image breaks down the representations to a formulaic narrative plot – thereby confronting the sequential process of institutional practice.
Smith, Barbara. “Homophobia: Why Bring It Up?” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Eds. Henry Abelove, Michéle Aina Barale, David M. Halperin. New York: Routledge, 1993. 99-102.
Smith, a black feminist writer, here addresses issues of race and homosexuality and clarifies common misconceptions and attitudes toward gay men and lesbians.
Tea and Sympathy. Dir. Vincente Minnelli. Warner Studios, 1956.
A straight film with homosexual undertones, specifically tackling masculinity in the ‘50s and social effects of effeminacy.
Ward, Jane. “Queer Sexism: Rethinking Gay Men and Masculinity.” Gay Masculinities. Ed. Peter Nardi. Thousand Oaks, London: Sage Publications, Inc., 2000. 153-175.
An interesting look on how gay men find themselves split between oppression and privilege, and often don’t take into account their inherent sexism toward women. Ward discusses early gay masculinity texts and misogynistic findings, and the particulars within the “sexist” gay community.
Weir, John. “Going In.” Gay Men at the Millennium: Sex, Spirit, and Community. Ed. Michael Lowenthal. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1997. 252-259.
The most radical anti-gay gay essay I have found. Weir’s disgust with mainstreamed gay culture and scathing stereotypes has provoked him to “take it back: I’m not gay.” He wants detachment from the evolution of the queer culture – he even goes so far as to equate self-identified gay men to conservative Republicans. This is an extreme version of my view on queer lit.
White, Edmund. “The Political Vocabulary of Homosexuality”, “Out of the Closet, on to the Bookshelf”, “The Personal is Political: Queer Fiction and Criticism.” The Burning Library: Essays. Ed. David Bergman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. 69-81, 275-283, 367-377.
White’s essays could make up my entire bibliography, but I trimmed the list to three. The first is an extremely comprehensive history of gay liberation, language, evolution of masculinity in queer culture, and decline of homosexual art. The second is an essential critique of the emergence of gay fiction, reactions and shifts in intention/style. The third is a brief literary self-history advocating the political power of writing about personal gay themes.
Suggested for Further Reading
Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin
Queer Sites: Gay Urban Histories Since 1600, David Higgs
The Celluloid Closet, Vito Russo
My Gender Workbook, Kate Bornstein
“Lucky Ducks,” Lorrie Moore
Mr. Universe (play), Jim Grimsley
Art and Lies, Jeanette Winterson
Movietone: Detour, Peter Weltner
Try, Dennis Cooper
Gender Trouble, Bodies That Matter, Judith Butler
Boys, Paul Smith
The Beauty of Men, Andrew Holleran
Men on Men anthology series
Geography of the Heart, Fenton Johnson
Reading Schedule
Week 1/2: Queer 101: Foundation Texts: Background, History, and Contextual Evidence
Foreword to Best Gay American Fiction 3, Jim Grimsley
“Out of the Closet, on to the Bookshelf,” Edmund White
“Epistemology of the Closet,” Eve Sedgwick
“Homophobia: Why Bring it Up?” Barbara Smith
Death in Venice, Thomas Mann
Film: The Celluloid Closet
Week 3/4: Why Write Gay? The Separatist theory: Role Models, Community, and
Politics
“The Personal is Political: Queer Fiction and Criticism,” Edmund White
“Introducing Horror Hospital,” Dennis Cooper
“101 Ways to Cook a Hamburger,” Bernard Cooper
“Three Small Memoirs,” Clair Peterson
“Deep Green, Pale Purple,” Scott Heim
Week 5/6: Stereotype or Reality? Accurate Community Portrayal or Media Imaging?
“The Evidence of Experience,” Joan W. Scott
“The House sitter,” Andrew Holleran
“There’s No Version Like Perversion,” Joseph Goodwin
“Two Stories,” Rob Goldstein
“Miz Lou Has a Reason to Smile, Oh Yes,” Mark Haile
Prologue from A Backward Glance, Kolin J. M. Ohi
“Brokeback Mountain,” Annie Proulx
Film: The Opposite of Sex
Week 7: Generational Eras: The AIDS Epoch and its effect on Contemporary Queer Lit
“Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water…” Daniel Seldon
“The Kitschification of AIDS,” Daniel Harris
“Saturn Street,” David Leavitt
Martin and John, Dale Peck
“Sexual Politics,” Alfred Corn
“In September, the Light Changes,” Andrew Holleran
Play: Angels In America, Tony Kushner
Week 8: Masculinity and Homosexuality: Leather and Lace
“Anything for a Sis, Mary,” Peter Nardi
“The Political Vocabulary of Homosexuality,” Edmund White
“Queer Sexism: Re-thinking Gay Men and Masculinity,” Jane Ward
“Rolling Back the Stone,” Dale Peck
Film: Tea and Sympathy
Week 9/10: The Fall of the Go-go Boy: Evolution, the Blenders (maturation?) theory, and
The Future of Queer Literature
“Decline and Fall: How Gay Culture Lost Its Edge,” Daniel Mendelsohn
“Glad-to-Be-Gay Propaganda,” Daniel Harris
“Going In,” John Weir
The Hours, Michael Cunningham
“Sifting Through,” Mitchell Cullin
“The Future of the Flynns,” Andrew Sean Greer
“Fear the Blenders,” Eric Hildebrandt
Film: Cecil B. Demented
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