Our Young Man

Author: Edmund White

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General Fields

  • : 27.99 AUD
  • : 9781408858943
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • :
  • : 0.467
  • : October 2015
  • : 234mm X 153mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 27.99
  • : June 2016
  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Edmund White
  • :
  • : Paperback
  • : Export/Airside
  • :
  • : en
  • : 813/.54
  • :
  • : 320
  • :
  • :
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Barcode 9781408858943
9781408858943

Description

'Has everyone always been in love with you? Of course they have, who am I kidding? What did they say about Helen of Troy? That her face launched a thousand ships? That's you, you're that beautiful. A thousand ships'


New York City in the eighties, and at its decadent heart is Guy. The darling of Fire Island's gay community and one of New York's top male models, Guy is gliding his way to riches that are a world away from his modest provincial upbringing back home in France. Like some modern-day Dorian Gray he seems untouched by time: the decades pass, fashions change, yet his beauty remains as transcendent and captivating as ever.


Such looks cannot help but bring him adoration. From sweet yet pathetic Fred to the wealthy and masochistic Baron, from the acerbic and cynical Pierre-Georges to Andre, fabricating DalĂ­ fakes and hurtling towards prison and the abyss, all are in some way fixated on him. In return for the devotion and expensive gifts they lavish on him, he plays with unswerving loyalty whatever role they project onto him: unattainable idol, passionate lover, malleable client. But just as the years are catching up on his smooth skin and perfect body, so his way of life is closing in on him and destroying the men he loves.


Edmund White has in Our Young Man created some of the richest representations of gay male identity, from the disco era to the age of AIDs. What links them all is the allure and enchantment they find in beauty. Revelling in its magic, Our Young Man nonetheless slips beneath the seductive surface to examine its dangerous depths, exploring its power to fascinate, enslave and deceive. Mesmerising, blackly comic, and delicately crafted, this is an exquisite novel from a contemporary master.

Promotion info

A literary event - the most accomplished novel yet from one of the world's most prolific and well-respected authors.

Reviews

'Edmund White is one of the best writers of my generation; he's certainly the contemporary American writer I reread more than any other, and the one whose next book I look forward to reading most.' -- John Irving


'Our Young Man is classic Edmund White, exploring the universal desire to be known, desired, accepted and at what cost. Set against the backdrop of the world of male modeling, Our Young Man takes us from France to Fire Island, exploring ideas of coming of age, coming into one's own, and coming out, themes of family, trust and identity and the devastation of the AIDS epidemic and always, in keeping true to all of Edmund White's work through the years the ineluctable nature of desire and the (sometimes failed) beauty of the human heart.' -- A. M. Homes


'Edmund White continues to chronicle, with more insight and compassion than any other writer I could name, the points at which gay life is simultaneously particular unto itself, and contiguous with universal human states. Thank you, Edmund, for insisting on our differences while reminding us, as well, that none of us is truly different, not in our innermost selves.' -- Michael Cunningham


'So funny - it's really one of his best - full of life, and so nast.' -- Andrew Holleran


'A playful yet searching novel of gay life in the New York of Ed Koch and Studio 54 ... A closely written, multidimensional coming-of-age novel that captures a time of whispers, elaborate codes, and not inconsiderable danger.' --Kirkus


'The cleanest, clearest stream of prose I've let myself into for a long time. But underneath that glitchless surface that are treacherous and unsuspecting currents and depths. The astonishing details of everything, the always-perfect similes and metaphors ... there is such richness to that cleanness. It is thrilling and mesmerising ... A gripping, profound and uproariously funny book.' --Neel Mukherjee


 


New York city in the eighties. At its decadent heart is Guy, top male model and darling of Fire Island's gay community. Like a modern-day Dorian Gray, he seems untouched by time. But as the years begin to catch up with Guy's smooth skin and perfect body, so his way of life starts to close in on him and destroy the men he loves... - Jackson, The Book Grocer

Author description

Edmund White is the author of many novels, including A Boy's Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, The Farewell Symphony, and, most recently, Jack Holmes and His Friend. His nonfiction includes City Boy, Inside a Pearl, and other memoirs; The Flaneur, about Paris; and literary biographies and essays. White lives in New York and teaches at Princeton University.