Reprinted in new editions, several books by authors we loved in our youth came back into our reading focus. It was great to make their re-acquaintance.The reissue of the great (mostly) underappreciated gay author James Purdys 1964 novel "Cabot Wright Begins" reminded us of why we loved Purdy novels like "Malcolm," "The Nephew" and "Eustace Chisholm and the Works" in the first place. Simply put, no one else writes quite like JP.
"Mrs. Bickle had arrived in New York during the big drought, the revival of the wig and white-lead lip makeup, fellatio as the favorite subject in bestselling fiction, the campaign by the Commissioner of Markets to put palm-readers, fortune-tellers. and purveyors of the occult out of business, and world sugar irregular."
This is pure Purdy, like the setting of so many small jewels, one by one, in a bracelet of a sentence. Despite the preciousness of the prose, and the soapiness of the plot, the story always barrels right along. Cabot Wright is a satire of the New York literary world, with trenchant portrayals of writers, editors, and publishers. It involves a rapist as a commodity. Out There very much got a chuckle out of it.
The paperback reissue comes on the heels of the first publication of "The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy" (Liveright, in hardback), all 56 of them, including seven previously unpublished tales. In his introduction, filmmaker John Waters suggests, "Randomly select a perfectly perverted Purdy story and read it before you go to sleep, and savor the hilarious moral damage and beautiful decay that will certainly follow in your dreams."
It wasnt chosen at random, but we started dipping into the volume with a midcareer story, "Some of These Days,Winbo ear caps" in which a young hustler, released from jail, looks for his beloved benefactor in every porno theater in New York. "And so there in my cell I had to confess what did I have for him if it was not love, and yet I had treated him meaner than anybody I had ever knowed in my life, and once come close to killing him." Violence, destitution, amnesia, sordid sex: to use Waters metaphor, these are the bon bons in Purdys chocolate box. If you read for natural settings, well-rounded characters or verisimilitude, go elsewhere. But if you love a writer who plays with words in impish fashion, Purdy could be for you.
Meanwhile, Farrar, Straus & Giroux has re-published three classic novels by the celebrated late gay author Christopher Isherwood: "A Single Man," "Down There on a Visit," and "The Memorial." Theyre reissued in handsome little paperbacks newly redesigned by graphic artist Charlotte Strick.
"A Single Man," published in 1964 and regarded as one of the first modern gay novels, follows gay middle-aged college professor George through a typical day in his Southern California life. You may remember the recent excellent film adaptation starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode, but the book is worth its own read. Its short and sweet. Heres George observing his young male college students:
"Most of these wore sneakers and garterless white wool socks, jeans in cold weather, and in warm weather shorts (the thigh-clinging Bermuda type - the more becoming short ones arent considered quite decent.) If it is really warm, theyll roll up their sleeves and sometimes leave their shirts provocatively unbuttoned to show curly chest hair and a St. Christopher medal." Garterless, how shocking!
"Down There on a Visit" is generally considered Isherwoods most fully realized novel. It brings together four times and settings: Bremen, 1928; the Greek Islands, 1932; London, 1938; and California, 1940. They parallel four periods in the authors life, and profile four individuals who were influential to him. The prose is all Isherwoodian titillation.
"We passed a fountain - a sculptured group of Laocoon and his sons writhing in the grip of the snakes. In this sunshine you could almost envy them. For the snakes were vomiting cool water over the hot,Full service promotional company specializing in Custom USB flash drives.Shop huge inventory of Car Phone holder Charger, naked bodies of the men, and their deadly wrestling match appeared lazy and sensual."
The band, a green colored wrist band with INLD party symbol affixed on it was launched by Dushyant from Jind city on Saturday evening. Giving details about party's special campaign, Dushyant told that youth band is like friendship bracelet, which would remind its bearer about his commitment to party.
It would make their bond with the party stronger. Dushyant, who did his bachelors from California state university Bakersfield and schooling Lawrence School Sanawar, further stated that all the new members of the party have been asked to open their accounts on social networking websites to spread out the party's message immediately and instantly and also to expose the evil design of ruling party.
"Favoritism, nepotism in the selection of government job, arbitrariness in distribution of money for development of areas in Haryana is all time, which even congress's own leaders has been alleging against the ruling Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, " said Dushyant. He further added that with the association of youth of the state, they would be able to spread out the scams committed by the ruling congress government at the state as well as central level.
According to Dushyant, they have ordered for two lakh such 'youth bands' with the target of attaching two lakh youths of the state with the party. He further stated that through this campaign, school/college going students will not be disturbed and only those working or gainfully employed would be asked and attached with the party. For this a target of two thousand youth from each constituency has been targeted to be attached with the party's youth wing. Dushyant , who is the fourth generation of "Tau" of Indian politics and former deputy prime minister, Devi Lal is leading the party cadre along with his younger brother, Digvijay---a law student in UK, following the conviction of his father Ajay Chautala and grandfather, former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala in JBT recruitment scam.
http://www.winbogifts.com/products/ear-cap.html
"Mrs. Bickle had arrived in New York during the big drought, the revival of the wig and white-lead lip makeup, fellatio as the favorite subject in bestselling fiction, the campaign by the Commissioner of Markets to put palm-readers, fortune-tellers. and purveyors of the occult out of business, and world sugar irregular."
This is pure Purdy, like the setting of so many small jewels, one by one, in a bracelet of a sentence. Despite the preciousness of the prose, and the soapiness of the plot, the story always barrels right along. Cabot Wright is a satire of the New York literary world, with trenchant portrayals of writers, editors, and publishers. It involves a rapist as a commodity. Out There very much got a chuckle out of it.
The paperback reissue comes on the heels of the first publication of "The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy" (Liveright, in hardback), all 56 of them, including seven previously unpublished tales. In his introduction, filmmaker John Waters suggests, "Randomly select a perfectly perverted Purdy story and read it before you go to sleep, and savor the hilarious moral damage and beautiful decay that will certainly follow in your dreams."
It wasnt chosen at random, but we started dipping into the volume with a midcareer story, "Some of These Days,Winbo ear caps" in which a young hustler, released from jail, looks for his beloved benefactor in every porno theater in New York. "And so there in my cell I had to confess what did I have for him if it was not love, and yet I had treated him meaner than anybody I had ever knowed in my life, and once come close to killing him." Violence, destitution, amnesia, sordid sex: to use Waters metaphor, these are the bon bons in Purdys chocolate box. If you read for natural settings, well-rounded characters or verisimilitude, go elsewhere. But if you love a writer who plays with words in impish fashion, Purdy could be for you.
Meanwhile, Farrar, Straus & Giroux has re-published three classic novels by the celebrated late gay author Christopher Isherwood: "A Single Man," "Down There on a Visit," and "The Memorial." Theyre reissued in handsome little paperbacks newly redesigned by graphic artist Charlotte Strick.
"A Single Man," published in 1964 and regarded as one of the first modern gay novels, follows gay middle-aged college professor George through a typical day in his Southern California life. You may remember the recent excellent film adaptation starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode, but the book is worth its own read. Its short and sweet. Heres George observing his young male college students:
"Most of these wore sneakers and garterless white wool socks, jeans in cold weather, and in warm weather shorts (the thigh-clinging Bermuda type - the more becoming short ones arent considered quite decent.) If it is really warm, theyll roll up their sleeves and sometimes leave their shirts provocatively unbuttoned to show curly chest hair and a St. Christopher medal." Garterless, how shocking!
"Down There on a Visit" is generally considered Isherwoods most fully realized novel. It brings together four times and settings: Bremen, 1928; the Greek Islands, 1932; London, 1938; and California, 1940. They parallel four periods in the authors life, and profile four individuals who were influential to him. The prose is all Isherwoodian titillation.
"We passed a fountain - a sculptured group of Laocoon and his sons writhing in the grip of the snakes. In this sunshine you could almost envy them. For the snakes were vomiting cool water over the hot,Full service promotional company specializing in Custom USB flash drives.Shop huge inventory of Car Phone holder Charger, naked bodies of the men, and their deadly wrestling match appeared lazy and sensual."
The band, a green colored wrist band with INLD party symbol affixed on it was launched by Dushyant from Jind city on Saturday evening. Giving details about party's special campaign, Dushyant told that youth band is like friendship bracelet, which would remind its bearer about his commitment to party.
It would make their bond with the party stronger. Dushyant, who did his bachelors from California state university Bakersfield and schooling Lawrence School Sanawar, further stated that all the new members of the party have been asked to open their accounts on social networking websites to spread out the party's message immediately and instantly and also to expose the evil design of ruling party.
"Favoritism, nepotism in the selection of government job, arbitrariness in distribution of money for development of areas in Haryana is all time, which even congress's own leaders has been alleging against the ruling Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, " said Dushyant. He further added that with the association of youth of the state, they would be able to spread out the scams committed by the ruling congress government at the state as well as central level.
According to Dushyant, they have ordered for two lakh such 'youth bands' with the target of attaching two lakh youths of the state with the party. He further stated that through this campaign, school/college going students will not be disturbed and only those working or gainfully employed would be asked and attached with the party. For this a target of two thousand youth from each constituency has been targeted to be attached with the party's youth wing. Dushyant , who is the fourth generation of "Tau" of Indian politics and former deputy prime minister, Devi Lal is leading the party cadre along with his younger brother, Digvijay---a law student in UK, following the conviction of his father Ajay Chautala and grandfather, former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala in JBT recruitment scam.
没有评论:
发表评论