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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Mario Vargas Llosa, 1936-2025
In his appraisal in the New York Times Dwight Garner overlooks El sueño del celta (2010), which, among the novels I have read, is my favorite. Interweaving Roger Casement’s last days in prison with flashbacks from his life, Vargas Llosa presents us with a … Continue reading
Queer Lives : Felice Picano, 1944-2025
Felice Picano was an American writer influential in the emergence of post-Stonewall gay literature. He was a member of the so-called Violet Quill Club a group of gay writers that also included Edmund White and Andrew Holleran, the two last surviving … Continue reading
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Of course, we must talk about Kafka!
Of course, we must talk about Kafka! The year coming to an end marks the centenary of his death, on June 3 1924, at the age of 40. Author of a multifaceted body of work, the Czech writer has been … Continue reading
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Celebrating the centenary of James Baldwin’s birth
Under this title, Fred d’Aguilar, in December 6th TLS, reviews Baldwin’s memoir, No Name in the Street, “beautifully reissued by Penguin Classics,” and several recently published books on the author, who was born on August 2, 1924, among which: Colm Tóibín’s On James … Continue reading
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Garth Greenwell and the books of his life
Garth Greenwell was recently featured in the excellent The Book of my Life weekly column in The Guardian. Among other things, he talks about Saint Augustine, the author of Confessions (an “autofiction”), his favorite writer, WG Sebald’s The Ring of Saturn, which made him wanting … Continue reading
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Men
Some Men in London: Very good review of the excellent two-volume anthology by Peter Parker on homosexual life in England from 1945 to 1967, the year of the partial decriminalization of homosexuality in that country. Caillebotte: Painting Men: An extraordinary … Continue reading
Best gay books of the 21th century
As we approach the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, The New York Times published this summer a list of the 100 best books released in the United States since January 1, 2000, based on a survey of over 500 writers … Continue reading
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Queer Lives: Jean-Claude Berchet, 1939-2024
A few days ago in Le Monde‘s obituary pages: Born in Nantua (Jura) in 1939, a former student of the École Normale Supérieure, Jean-Claude Berchet was the editor of the Mémoires d’outre-tombe in the memorable Classiques Garnier collection with its highly recognizable yellow … Continue reading
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Tonio Kröger
“When, in 1931, Thomas Mann received a newspaper questionnaire asking about his “first love,” he replied, in essence, “Read Tonio Kröger.”” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker, Jan 24 2022) Tonio Kröger is a novella written in 1901 and published in 1903, shortly after … Continue reading
Queer Lives: Bruce Bastian, 1948-2024
Bruce Bastian, a Founder of WordPerfect, Is Dead at 76. (New York Times) Bruce Bastian was born into a Mormon family in Idaho. After training as a musician, he studied computer science and then founded a company in partnership with one … Continue reading
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