David Bergman (1)Critiques

I was blown away by this collection of essays by Edmund White. The Burning Library. Writings on Art, Politics and Sexuality 1969 - 1993, edited by David Bergman, has been in my possession for a very long time before I came round to reading it this summer. It is no exaggeration to compare this collection of essays with the work of Susan Sontag.

First of all, White's essays cover a very broad field, extending to all the major writers of the Twentieth century. Through his familiarity with European culture, being able to read French, White has truly profound knowledge and understanding of French culture and writers with long essays on Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, and Jean Genet. Then, too, Edmund White lived through most exciting times, witnessing the heights in the sexual liberation and emancipation of gay people between 1969 - 1993, as well as the lows during that period of the devastating AIDS epidemic. There are essays on Herve Guibert, Juan Goytisolo and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Edmund White knew or met many of the people he writes about. They were all there in it: Christopher Isherwood, Robert Mapplethorp, Truman Capote, William Burroughs, and Tennessee Williams.

Besides essays dedicated to writers there are several comtemplative essays on movements or the period. All essays are fabulously well-researched, and very well-written, I would never have guessed from mainly knowing Edmund White as a novelist. However, it should be remembered that he started his career as a non-fiction writer.

Highly recommended!½

I love this wide-ranging selection of essays from the ubiquitous Edmund White's oeuvre. One can read about gay life and culture, literary commentary and criticism, and more in these entertaining and exemplary essays. Edmund White has a facility with prose that is among the best that I have encountered in my reading.

This edition of the "Men on Men" anthology series includes some of my favorite authors: Alexander Chee, Jim Grimsley and Edmund White are present. With the other stories there is a range of topics from coming out to dealing with Aids and beyond. A worthy addition to this now venerable series.½

anthropology, art, camp, cultural studies, essays, gay, lesbian, history, homosexuality, non-fiction, queer theory, queer studies, style, stylistics, performance, performance studies, politics, society and culture

The eighth installment of the popular Men on Men anthology series offers the usual fine mix of fiction from well-established and up-and-coming gay writers. Among the best-known names in Men on Men 2000 are Jim Grimsley and Edmund White--White is represented by an excerpt from his forthcoming novel, The Married Man. Other authors take on subjects ranging from fatherhood to the impact of AIDS.

This dazzling collection brings together established writers and bright new voices from all over the nation. Jaime Manrique, Gary Glickman, Michael Lowenthal, Robert Rodi, Jameson Currier, and 15 others explore such themes as self-representaion and love, family and fantasy. This culturally diverse collection covers wide-ranging and entertaining themes, including gay male sexuality, self-esteem, illusion, and the concept of family.

Rarely has a subtitle been so apt, or a series so consistently strong. Against the recent deluge of sloppy, would-be postmodern subcultural stories, Men on Men has regularly yielded a trove of well-wrought gay-themed short fiction. Gay critic, poet and anthologist Bergman includes among these 20 stories several by well-known authors.

This book is a collection of Fables and Folklore, some of which are entertaining. Within the book are some old favorites such as the turtle and the rabbit and some I hadn’t heard of such as the weasel and the hole.

Of the stories within this book I enjoyed the ones that taught a lesson and were humorous such as the Turtle and the two ducks. Many of the stories I found to be dull. The ideas for the stories are good, however they are very short. If the authors would have used each of the ideas to form longer stories (possibly multiple books) I think they would have been more detailed and interesting.

From a teacher’s perspective this book could hold much value. The stories are short enough to read is introductions to many lessons. For example, if I were to be teaching a lesson on time management a good story to introduce the topic would be The Grasshopper and the Ant.

A beautifully written book as most of Whites are½

Belonged to my ex-flatmate, too much gay sex for me to actually read it.