Where Are The Gay Writers???????????

                                   Right now, girls, I happen to be reading the novel that is the Flavor Of The Month this literary season--Michael Chabon's "Telegraph Avenue."  Though I am only a quarter of the way through, I can say this much--Chabon's writing and his handling of the subject make the book so compelling that, when I am able to gather some time, pick it up, and read it, I cannot put it down, and, at his point, it is already looking good as my choice for Book Of The Year.  And even if something should come along before December31 to top it, it will still make my Top Ten!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Chabon's book skillfully examines a diversity of cultures and lifestyles.  Yet, as I was reading it, I could not help but pause and wonder, "Where Are Today's Gay Writers?"

                                    I do not mean the standard assortment found in the critical tome pictured above--Oscar Wilde, Hart Crane, James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal...you know, the usual suspects.  What I mean is, with literary fiction dominated by White Male authors like Chabon, Jonathans Franzen, Lethem, and Safran-Foer, or Chad Harbach, where are their Gay Counterparts??????

                                  The answer, darlings is simple--there are none!

                                   Now, there are gay writers out there--Michael Cunningham, David Leavitt and Christoper Bram come first to mind.  I have to say I had high hopes for Bram and Leavitt.  When David Leavitt's collection of short stories, "Family Dancing," first appeared, back in 1983, I thought it heralded the arrival of a Major Gay Writer, one who would sit beside his white, straight contemporaries.  Almost 30 years later, Leavitt has all but vanished, and while the last book of his I read, "The Indian Clerk," was certainly worthy of his straight colleagues, it did not seem to catch on with a reading audience, and what has he written since?????  Very sad.

                                 Christopher Bram, bless his heart, keeps writing, but only scores a bulls-eye every once in awhile, like with "Father Of Frankenstein," or my favorite, "The Notorious Doctor August.".  He is a mixed bag, and like Leavitt, the body of work is not that steady.

                                   Same with Michael Cunningham. Don't even start with me on the Pulitzer for "The Hours", though it did serve to give him some street cred.  He has written one truly great book, "Flesh And Blood," but "Specimen Days?????"  I mean, come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Some might say Alan Holinghusrt.  Well, "The Line Of Beauty" was the most pretentious piece of crap I had read in a long time up to that point, and, like the others, he is a mixed bag--"The Swimming Pool Library,"  "The Folding Star"--come on!!!!!!!!  Points for trying, Alan, but what all these writers lack, or don't seem to realize, that gives their straight colleagues an advantage, is the need to be consistent, and develop an audience of their own.  Or, to play Devil's Advocate, maybe they have, but it is just not big enough.  Everyone, straight and gay, reads the white straight authors I have mentioned.  But do any straight readers read the gay authors?  And why not?  And how many gay men actually read these authors, if, indeed they read at all??????????

                                      I think the problem lies in the lack of a fan base in the Gay Community, generally not known for their literary largesse.  Let's face it, darlings, as a gay man who reads serious literature, I am something of an anomaly in the Community.  The gay writers who write do so for such a small fan base , and that fan base never seems to increase, unlike with  the straight writers.

                                       And I have not even talked about the gay writers out there who may be good, but even I do not know, because they do not get the publicity or exposure that their more renowned colleagues do.  Are we talking here about mainstream crossover?  Or are we talking about a Community that puts more of a price tag on fads and fashions than something more demanding and discerning, like literature?????

                                       Poor David Leavitt. Back to him again.  I think he had every intention of becoming the type of author I wished him to, but when he saw that his actual audience was more disposed to something like "Fifty Shades Of Grey" (not even Harry Potter, loves!!!!!!!) I think he just went and gave up.

                                         Which is a shame to those of us who hunger for serious gay literary writers.  There may even be one out there, waiting to emerge, but in order for him to, readers, agents, and editors all have to act on behalf of his marketability.

                                            Otherwise, contemporary gay literature will go the way of the gay independent bookstores!!!!!!!!

                                             Extinct, darlings!!!!!!!!!!  Just like the Dodo Bird!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!