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Edmund White: Difference between revisions
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{{Template:Ac}}'''Edmund White''' (January 13, 1940 - June 3, 2025) - was a | {{Template:Ac}}[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_White '''Edmund White'''] (January 13, 1940 - June 3, 2025) - was a pioneering figure in American LGBTQ and especially gay literature, writing with rare openness and honesty about gay identity, relationships, and sex. His work emerged as part of an increasingly visible LGBTQ community, helping to reshape public narratives at a time when coming out was still a dangerous and radical act. His writings include ''The Joy of Gay Sex'' (1977), written with the founder of the [[Journal of Homosexuality]] Charles Silverstein, the semi-autobiographical trilogy ''A Boy's Own Story'' (1982), and a biography of Jean Genet (who wrote sympathetically on pederasty). | ||
Much of White's writing is on the theme of same-sex love, and often includes age-gap relationships. In his 1980 book ''States of Desire: Travels in Gay America'', White interviewed a self-identified [[pedophile]] in Boston, writing: "While you were talking, I kept wishing I’d met you when I was nine and you the age you are now."<ref>Edmund White, ''States of Desire: Travels in Gay America'' (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1980), p. 316.</ref> | |||
As recalled in our [[Testimony:_Adult_Male_with_Minor_Male|testimonies]] and further elaborated by [[Bruce Rind]] in [[Censoring Sex Research]] (2013), White has been open about his positive sexual experiences and desire to seduce adult men during childhood. Dr. Rind explained: | As recalled in our [[Testimony:_Adult_Male_with_Minor_Male|testimonies]] and further elaborated by [[Bruce Rind]] in [[Censoring Sex Research]] (2013), White has been open about his positive sexual experiences and desire to seduce adult men during childhood. Dr. Rind explained: | ||
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In his 2005 memoir ''My Lives'', White cites Jean Genet, [[Marcel Proust]] and [[Andre Gide]] as influences.<ref>Cartwight, Justin (September 25, 2005). [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/my-lives-by-edmund-white-314709.html "My Lives by Edmund White"]. ''The Independent''. London.</ref> (All [[Historical_examples_of_LGBT-MAP_unity|'gay' writers who have some relationship]] to [[pederasty]]). White's favorite living writers in the early 1970s were ''Lolita'' author [[Vladimir Nabokov]], and the author [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood Christopher Isherwood].<ref>White, Edmund (2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20150926112748/http://bloomsburybooks.tumblr.com/post/269220622/how-did-one-edit-nabokov "'How did one edit Nabokov?'"]. ''City Boy''. "Gerald Clarke... had gone to Montreux to do an interview with Nabokov for Esquire, and followed the usual drill... On his last evening in Switzerland he confronted Nabokov over drinks: 'So whom do you like?' he asked — since the great man had so far only listed his dislikes and aversions. 'Edmund White' Nabokov responded. 'He wrote Forgetting Elena. It's a marvelous book." He'd then gone on to list titles by John Updike and Delmore Schwartz (particularly the short story "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities"), as well as Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy among a few others."</ref> He has stated that "Nabokov’s job in the book [Lolita] is to make you like the monstrous Humbert Humbert [...] In the 1960s readers were too swinging to see how evil he was and now readers are too prudish to see how charming he can be."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20200807052010/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/books/review/edmund-white-by-the-book-interview.html Edmund White Thinks Most People Misread ‘Lolita’] (''New York Post'', 2020).</ref> | In his 2005 memoir ''My Lives'', White cites Jean Genet, [[Marcel Proust]] and [[Andre Gide]] as influences.<ref>Cartwight, Justin (September 25, 2005). [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/my-lives-by-edmund-white-314709.html "My Lives by Edmund White"]. ''The Independent''. London.</ref> (All [[Historical_examples_of_LGBT-MAP_unity|'gay' writers who have some relationship]] to [[pederasty]]). White's favorite living writers in the early 1970s were ''Lolita'' author [[Vladimir Nabokov]], and the author [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood Christopher Isherwood].<ref>White, Edmund (2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20150926112748/http://bloomsburybooks.tumblr.com/post/269220622/how-did-one-edit-nabokov "'How did one edit Nabokov?'"]. ''City Boy''. "Gerald Clarke... had gone to Montreux to do an interview with Nabokov for Esquire, and followed the usual drill... On his last evening in Switzerland he confronted Nabokov over drinks: 'So whom do you like?' he asked — since the great man had so far only listed his dislikes and aversions. 'Edmund White' Nabokov responded. 'He wrote Forgetting Elena. It's a marvelous book." He'd then gone on to list titles by John Updike and Delmore Schwartz (particularly the short story "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities"), as well as Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy among a few others."</ref> He has stated that "Nabokov’s job in the book [Lolita] is to make you like the monstrous Humbert Humbert [...] In the 1960s readers were too swinging to see how evil he was and now readers are too prudish to see how charming he can be."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20200807052010/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/books/review/edmund-white-by-the-book-interview.html Edmund White Thinks Most People Misread ‘Lolita’] (''New York Post'', 2020).</ref> | ||
In 2021, White wrote an endorsement for the second edition of British gay academic [[Testimony:_Adult_Male_with_Minor_Male|Jonathan Dollimore]]'s autobiography, which discusses Dollimore's own early sexual feelings and positive age-gap sex at 14-15 years old. | |||
On June 3, 2025, White died at his home in Chelsea, Manhattan, at the age of 85. He had been suffering from an apparent gastroenteritis infection. | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
[[Category:Official_Encyclopedia]][[Category:Gay]][[Category:Art]][[Category:People]][[Category:People: American]][[Category:People: Adult or Minor sexually attracted to or involved with the other]][[Category:People: Sympathetic Activists]][[Category:People: Artists and Poets]] | [[Category:Official_Encyclopedia]][[Category:Gay]][[Category:Art]][[Category:People]][[Category:People: American]][[Category:People: Adult or Minor sexually attracted to or involved with the other]][[Category:People: Sympathetic Activists]][[Category:People: Artists and Poets]] | ||
Latest revision as of 02:30, 7 June 2025
Edmund White (January 13, 1940 - June 3, 2025) - was a pioneering figure in American LGBTQ and especially gay literature, writing with rare openness and honesty about gay identity, relationships, and sex. His work emerged as part of an increasingly visible LGBTQ community, helping to reshape public narratives at a time when coming out was still a dangerous and radical act. His writings include The Joy of Gay Sex (1977), written with the founder of the Journal of Homosexuality Charles Silverstein, the semi-autobiographical trilogy A Boy's Own Story (1982), and a biography of Jean Genet (who wrote sympathetically on pederasty).
Much of White's writing is on the theme of same-sex love, and often includes age-gap relationships. In his 1980 book States of Desire: Travels in Gay America, White interviewed a self-identified pedophile in Boston, writing: "While you were talking, I kept wishing I’d met you when I was nine and you the age you are now."[1]
As recalled in our testimonies and further elaborated by Bruce Rind in Censoring Sex Research (2013), White has been open about his positive sexual experiences and desire to seduce adult men during childhood. Dr. Rind explained:
White discussed some of his boyhood sexual experiences in an interview with journalist David Tuller (2002). Tuller noted how White recounted "with relish how he started cruising grown men from the age of 13 or 14 at beaches and public toilets in Chicago. Tuller quoted White:
- I was very oversexed, absolutely driven wild by desire. I would pick up men, and then they would abandon me as quickly as possible because they were worried that I was jail bait. The first one was a handsome architect, who actually had children older than me. I was absolutely fascinated by him, and I seduced him. I followed him to his car, walked right up to him and started talking to him. My mother was away and I said, 'Come back to my apartment.' And it was terrific.
His autobiography, White (2006) added details to his teenage pursuit of men. While still underage, he would save up money by working during the week and then use it to buy the sexual services of adult men on the weekends." (Rind, pp. 295-296).[2] These accounts were consistent with his earlier recollections.[3]
In States of Desire (1980), he supported an age of consent at 12-years-old for both sexes:
- [O]ne proposal that sounds reasonable to me would be to lower the age of consent to twelve for boys and girls, regardless of whether the sex involved is straight or gay and regardless of the age of the older partner. I do not think prostitution should be legally curbed. Prostitution is a practice that involves the consent of both buyer and bought; it should be the domain of private morality and not of legal regulation. True rape (as opposed to statutory rape in which no coercion has occurred) should be subject to the most stringent punishment, no matter what the age or gender of the two partners.[4]
In an endorsement for Mitzel's 1980 book The Boston Sex Scandal, a book recalling the Boston-Boise affair which led to the founding of NAMBLA, White wrote:
- In his irreverent, hilarious and hard-hitting prose, Mitzel reveals the hypocrisy and cynicism that underlie the current crusade against intergenerational love. This book is a detailed look at the often banal, always ambiguous truth that the sex scandal headlines have masked. I predict that children’s liberation will be the next great social movement in North America. This book will serve as a major document in what will turn out to be the most violent and radical debate on human rights we shall witness.
In his 2005 memoir My Lives, White cites Jean Genet, Marcel Proust and Andre Gide as influences.[5] (All 'gay' writers who have some relationship to pederasty). White's favorite living writers in the early 1970s were Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov, and the author Christopher Isherwood.[6] He has stated that "Nabokov’s job in the book [Lolita] is to make you like the monstrous Humbert Humbert [...] In the 1960s readers were too swinging to see how evil he was and now readers are too prudish to see how charming he can be."[7]
In 2021, White wrote an endorsement for the second edition of British gay academic Jonathan Dollimore's autobiography, which discusses Dollimore's own early sexual feelings and positive age-gap sex at 14-15 years old.
On June 3, 2025, White died at his home in Chelsea, Manhattan, at the age of 85. He had been suffering from an apparent gastroenteritis infection.
References
- ↑ Edmund White, States of Desire: Travels in Gay America (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1980), p. 316.
- ↑ White (2006) refers to: White, E. (2006). My lives: An autobiography. New York: HarperCollins.
- ↑ Quote, for example: I had been a sissy boy, constantly hankering after the affection of an adult man (anyone over seventeen—a soldier, say—seemed adult). When I was nine the neighbor of some Texas relatives had kissed me on the lips—but I had assumed the lust was all on my side, and I felt ashamed of my longings. Three years later my camp counselor had drawn me aside one afternoon and shown me his “art” photos of naked men on the beach. Now, of course, I recognize he was studying my responses in order to plan his own, but I kept mine as neutral as possible, for again I assumed that for him the photos were art and that they excited only me. When I was thirteen I did sleep with an adult Indian in Acapulco and at fifteen I had a brief affair with a man in his forties, whose children were older than I. This man I'd seen on a park bench by the lake in Chicago; he was dressed in coat and tie, studying architectural plans just before a meeting. He gave me no signals but, suddenly bold, I sat down beside him, chatted him up, followed him to his car. At last he smiled and said, “What do you want from me?” I was always trying to seduce men but they feared me as jail-bait. - Edmund White, States of Desire: Travels in Gay America (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1980), pp. 312-313.
- ↑ States of Desire, pp. 310-311.
- ↑ Cartwight, Justin (September 25, 2005). "My Lives by Edmund White". The Independent. London.
- ↑ White, Edmund (2009). "'How did one edit Nabokov?'". City Boy. "Gerald Clarke... had gone to Montreux to do an interview with Nabokov for Esquire, and followed the usual drill... On his last evening in Switzerland he confronted Nabokov over drinks: 'So whom do you like?' he asked — since the great man had so far only listed his dislikes and aversions. 'Edmund White' Nabokov responded. 'He wrote Forgetting Elena. It's a marvelous book." He'd then gone on to list titles by John Updike and Delmore Schwartz (particularly the short story "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities"), as well as Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy among a few others."
- ↑ Edmund White Thinks Most People Misread ‘Lolita’ (New York Post, 2020).