AEGiS-BKREV: AIDS: The Literary Response

AIDS: The Literary Response

Twayne Publishers, Macmillan, 866 3rd Ave., New York, NY 10022. 233p., bibliog., index. ISBN 0-8057-9029-2, 0-8057-9032-2pbk. $28.95, $12.95pbk. (Contributors to this volume: David Bergman, Towson State Univ.; Laurel Brodsley, Univ. of California at Los Angeles; Barbara Browning, Princeton Univ.; Annie Dawid, Lewis & Clark College; Joseph Dewey, Univ. of Pittsburgh at Johnstown; Judy Elsley, Univ. of Bristol; Kevin J. Harty, LaSalle Univ.; Gert Hekma, Univ. of Amsterdam; D.S. Lawson, Lander College; James Morrison, North Carolina State Univ. at Raleigh; Emmanuel S. Nelson, SUNY College at Cortland; Judith Laurence Pastore, Univ. of Lowell; Joel Shatzky, SUNY College at Cortland; Myles Weber, author; David Wetsel, Arizona State Univ. at Tempe; Les Wright, Univ. of California at Berkeley; Gregory Woods, Nottingham Polytechnic)
Edited by Emmanuel S. Nelson. 1992.

"The primary focus of this volume is on the creative response of gay male artists." It is a synthesis of what has been written by gay authors about AIDS, it is critical and examines representative texts and their contexts. Some of the texts include: Paul Monette's Borrowed Time, Randy Shilts' And the Band Played On, Marty Rubin's Boiled Frog Syndrome, Frans Kellendonk's The Mystical Body, Herve Guibert's A l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauve la vie (To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life), Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, and Harvey Fierstein's Safe Sex, to name a few. Each contributor has looked at a particular aspect in society and analyzed the literature that has been written with AIDS as the theme, showing its impact on the gay community. It is noted that the "artistic response of gay men to their individual and collective sorrow and terror, their anger and helplessness...has resulted in the most poignant and enduring texts of the AIDS era." "AIDS, to gay men, is a gravely personal issue. It is too real to be easily metaphorized or elegantly aestheticized. Many of them do not have to imagine the horror, for they live in the midst of a holocaust."

The first chapter looks at how Defoe's The Journal of the Plague Year has become a model for stories of plagues. Other chapters look at how suburban AIDS tends to be looked upon as more horrible that the AIDS in the gay communities; how the French blame the U.S. for importing AIDS to France; how the Dutch have written very little about AIDS in literary works; how the cinema has responded with some well-done movies as has the American theater; and how the NAMES Project has created a quilt that is indescribably moving beyond anyone's beliefs. The quilt embodies both disgust and desire, represents comfort and security, and it "sets about claiming power for people with AIDS by creating a story of their own making, for the victims, the panel makers, and even those who come to see the quilt."

This is an inspiring book that makes you want to search out the literary works and read or re-read them. It should be an eye opener for the heterosexual groups who scoff at AIDS and say it will never happen to me. It should bring compassion to the hearts of anyone who has been associated with this terrible disease. A slected bibliography is included offering non-literary texts, fiction, poetry, drama, memoirs/testaments, and criticism. There is also an "AIDS Filmography" listing 15 films with citations to their reviews. This is an excellent book providing the reader with insights that have never been thought about. It should be required reading in college and university short story writing classes. (H. Robert Malinowsky)

Keywords: AIDS in Literature, Gays in Literature
930730
BK930022

Copyright © 1993 - The University of Illinois at Chicago. All materials in the journal are subject to copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, redistribution, or translation, address requests to H. Robert Malinowsky, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, PO Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680 or electronically to hrm@uic.edu.

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