Boys Like Us: Gay Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories
Twenty-nine original coming-out essays by some of the country's most prominent gay writers are assembled here by Merla, former editor of Christopher Street and New York Native. The settings of the pieces span the nation and the entire postwar era. Among the several gems are "Cinnamon Skin" by Patrick White (A Boy's Own Story) and "He's One, Too" by Allan Gurganus (Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All), both of which transcend the personal essay and become literature. The stories by poet J.D. McClatchy, "My Fountain Pen," and playwright Tim Miller, "How to Grow Fruit," are wholly personal, poignant and poetic. Unfortunately, one must also wade through much that falls short of these, and the book ends on an off beat with poet Carl Phillips's annoyingly cloying "Sea Level." And yet, overall, this anthology conveys concretely the rite of passage on which it focuses, providing an impressive, if uneven, complement to American gay literature. 25,000 first printing.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.