Ricky
Essential queer memoir detailing life as an unapologetically queer person during the early to mid 20th century. Published in 1968 when its author was about 60 years old, it's wild that this book came out only one year after homosexuality had been decriminalized in England and Wales. (A dozen years before it was decriminalized in Scotland and 14 years before it was done in Northern Ireland.) There's something elusive about this book. The author clearly got through life with the need of a lot of defenses, so there might be even more distance than would be explained solely by his Englishness. I found myself thinking sometimes that Crisp would likely have been diagnosed as autistic if he had been alive in the 20th century. I wonder what his gender identity might have been had he been alive in this context. Anyway, it's a fascinating life story, engagingly told.
I stumble toward my grave, confused, and hurt, and hungry.
Essential queer memoir detailing life as an unapologetically queer person during the early to mid 20th century. Published in 1968 when its author was about 60 years old, it's wild that this book came out only one year after homosexuality had been decriminalized in England and Wales. (A dozen years before it was decriminalized in Scotland and 14 years before it was done in Northern Ireland.) There's something elusive about this book. The author clearly got through life with the need of a lot of defenses, so there might be even more distance than would be explained solely by his Englishness. I found myself thinking sometimes that Crisp would likely have been diagnosed as autistic if he had been alive in the 20th century. I wonder what his gender identity might have been had he been alive in this context. Anyway, it's a fascinating life story, engagingly told.
I stumble toward my grave, confused, and hurt, and hungry.