Love in a Dark Time: And Other Explanations of Gay Lives and Literature

Once captured by the liquid, informed prose of Colm Tóibín it is difficult to ignore anything this brilliant writer has written. Still under the spell of 'The Master' and having just sadly finished 'The Story of the Night' (that novel could have been extended another 300 pages!), it seemed only appropriate to read an investigative work, just to see how this man's mind absorbs and dissects the world of reality instead the one of fiction. Happily LOVE IN A DARK TIME is as fascinating a read as his novels. Tóibín searches the lives of many writers and artists asking how did/does their sexuality inform what they create. After a few historic references regarding the gay aspects of Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Melville, Joyce, Lorca, Yeats, Kafka, Proust, Gide et at, he analyses biographies (example: Lionel Trilling's bio of EM Forster) that appear unaware of the subject's sexual proclivities! That thrusts us into the exploration of history before the term 'homosexual' was created, regards the aspects of 'the gay being', and proceeds to introduce postulates as to how the works created by nine particular people were deeply influenced by their sexuality, occult or accepted. What then follows is a richly detailed and elegant series of essays on Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Roger Casement (of The Black Diaries), Thomas Mann, Francis Bacon (the painter), Elizabeth Bishop, James Baldwin, Thom Gunn, Pedro Almodovar, and Mark Doty. In each essay Tóibín takes a new stance of investigation, finding incidents or traits in the lives of those discussed that allow 'stories' to develop naturally. For those who have read 'The Master' (Tóibín's own "biography" of Henry James) this series of highly researched essays will come as no surprise. Tóibín's mind is rich with a plethora of books read and a penetrating mind that examines art from a vantage peculiar to a man that has arrived at the top of the heap in the field of literature. For enjoyable and informative reading, LOVE IN DARK TIME is a pearl. And reading Tóibín's older works only serves to whet the appetite for his next opus. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, June 05

Colm Toibin's "Love in a Dark Time" is a superior group of essays by one gay writer about other gay writers. What distinguishes this 2001 collection is how effectively Toibin sells the work of each figure essayed. I was never interested in James Baldwin before, but after reading Toibin's take, I ran out and enjoyed two Baldwin books. In the piece on Thomas Mann, we see how many of his male infatuations Mann turned into art--which infatuations into which stories--a subject being studied in detail only now by his biographers. And in the profile of Pedro Almodovar, we meet the Spanish torch singer Chavela Vargas, whom Almodovar rescued from obscurity because her confessional art mirrored so closely the values of his own cinema of women. A wonderful collection of essays that illuminate, indeed sell, each subject.

In this series of essays, Colm Tóibín explores the lives of nine artists whose homosexuality greatly influenced their art, and whose art greatly influenced their lives. He writes about Oscar Wilde, Thomas Mann, Thom Gunn, Pedro Almodóvar, James Baldwin, Roger Casement, Elizabeth Bishop, Mark Doty, and Francis Bacon (with a final essay about Catholic Ireland and how it is changing, with references to Micheál Mac Liammóir and Cathal Ó Searchaigh). Tóibín writes about not only their lives and art, but also the challenge and limitation of being labeled a "gay artist". These essays are fascinating and illuminating, and are a welcome addition to literary criticism, especially since it's a fellow writer bringing an interesting view to the canon.

This retrospective from this award-winning Irish gay novelist is a very informative, enlightening, and opinionated reading for anyone, but especially gay readers, interested in gay literature. The author's aim was to write a book about a group of authors and their books that he read in his youth, that deeply influenced him, and that he discovered only years later were by gay authors. These authors became companions that had the same interests as he did. Toibin examines the lives of such authors as; Thomas Mann, James Baldwin, Roger Casement, and poets Mark Doty, and Thom Gunn. These authors are some of the most influential gay writers of our time, but some had to keep their sexuality hidden by choice or necessity. I enjoyed all of Toibin's examinations of these fine authors but after reading Toibin's chapter about Roger Casement's "Black Diaries", which were supposedly vivid records of his sexual partners, I'm still left wondering whether or not they really existed. This book shows how deeply serious this author is about his love of books. You will walk away with an entirely new view of the life and work of these authors who have clearly influenced Toibin's life. It is a book that makes you think of your own favorite authors and how they have affected your life. This is a wonderful book, like no other I have read. Highly Recommended!Joe Hanssen