Men in Love: Male Homosexualities from Ganymede to Batman

as a gay man navigating the worlds of both heart and mind i was very intrigued by the books title and subject matter. the book is written like a research paper on male homosexuality, which was unexpected but none the less very compelling. the detail accounts of historical figures, and mythical both are very intriguing and thought provoking. at times the data presented does drone on and you find your mind wondering, but then any comprehensive study can have this tendency. overall i found this book to be informative, intriguing and even uplifting. have and will recommend to others.

I suspect Mr. Burnett didn't actually read this book, but simply reacted out of his latent resentment of any claims gay folks might have on our common human imagination. (Telling flaw in his argument: He feels the need to tell us that some of his friends are gay. Ok. But I bet he doesn't like to listen to their stories.) All polemics aside, I found this book fascinating. Its basic premise is that we can come to know more about perennial forms of desire by seeing how they are reflected, over and over, in imaginary works of art. It draws common themes from more than 3000 years of storytelling. As for Batman and Robin, they are fictional characters of course, so who knows if they are straight or gay. But as any half-decent reader or movie-goer knows, the meaning of a story will always depend upon the specific buttons it pushes in the person reading or viewing the work. For many of us, Batman and Robin certainly remind us of a certain kind of gay relationship, even if their homosexual behavior is not as explicit as Zeus and Ganymede's was. And that daddy/boy thing is not the only kind of homosexuality, as Dr. Lingiardi, a Jungian analyst, clearly points out. If any of this interests you, then read the book.

From the rape of Ganymede to Michelangelo's loves, from the relationship of Batman and Robin to the letters between Freud andJung, this voyage speaks eloquently about the complex relationships between men.