Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story (Perennial Classics) Paperback– May 25, 2004 by Paul Monette A child of the 1950s from a small New England town,"perfect Paul" earns straight A's and shines in social and literarypursuits, all the while keeping a secret—from himself and the rest of theworld. Struggling to be, or at least to imitate, a straight man, through IvyLeague halls of privilege and bohemian travels abroad, loveless intimacy andunrequited passion, Paul Monette was haunted, and finally saved, by a dream of"the thing I'd never even seen: two men in love and laughing." Searingly honest, witty, and humane, Becoming a Man is thedefinitive coming-out story in the classic coming-of-age genre. Editorial Reviews Paul Monette first made a name for himself in 1978 with hisdebut novel, Taking Care of Mrs. Carroll, a comic romp with serious overtones.He established himself as a writer of popular fiction with three more novelsbefore he and his lover were both diagnosed with HIV. In 1988 he wrote OnBorrowed Time, a memoir of living with AIDS and of his lover's death. Thepassion and anger that fueled On Borrowed Time surfaces again in 1992'sBecoming a Man: Half a Life Story, his National Book Award-winningautobiography. Although it follows the traditional structure of theautobiography and bildungsroman--early family life, education, reflections onhow art influenced the subject's view of life--Becoming a Man also filtersMonette's story through two central facts: the closet and AIDS. Monette writesof the pain of being closeted, the effect it had on his writing, and how itshaped (and often destroyed) his relationships. Monette's fear and fury at AIDSand homophobia heighten the same skill and imagination he put into his fiction.This vision--poetic yet highly political, angry yet infused with the love oflife--is what transforms Becoming a Man from simple autobiography into anintense record of struggle and salvation. Paul Monette did not lead a lifedifferent from many gay men--he struggled courageously with his family, hissexuality, his AIDS diagnosis--but in bearing witness to his and others' pain,he creates a personal testimony that illuminates the darkest corners of ourculture even as it finds unexpected reserves of hope. From Publishers Weekly Monette responds to readers of his first memoir, BorrowedTime, by providing the flip-side expository of his life in the closet until hemet his soul mate--the laughing man, Roger Horwitz. This memoir (which mightmore aptly have been titled Wasted Time ) is a bitter reproach of the 27 yearsMonette spent searching for himself. He explains that it took him years torealize that the homophobe is the deviant. Reading this beautifully writtenbook, one feels as trapped by its dark mood as the author was by the closet.The writing is occasionally marred, however, by repetitive phrases, such as"playing courtier," "the closet" and the endless search for"the laughing man." The story also unfolds choppily due to frequentreferences to the future. Nevertheless, the book is a heartfelt illumination ofhow a gay person overcame the self-reproach that societal condemnation enacts. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This textrefers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product details Series: Perennial Classics Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics; PerennialClassics ed. edition (May 25, 2004) Language: English |