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fights to be fought. There will always be people who support
me and people I make angry. Controversy is good if it makes
people think. Some of the reviews coming in on
The American
People
are downright nasty.
MH:
The
New York Times
review of
The American People
was
decidedly mixed. What was your reaction to this review?
LK:
I have never had a good review from
The New York Times
for anything I have written. There is still the Sunday
Times
book
review to come. It bothers me because it affects the sales of the
book. The daily reviewer obviously didn’t get it as Lewis Gan-
nett did for you [in the Jan.-Feb. 2015 issue]. I see a pattern
emerging: gay critics are much more in tune with what I’m try-
ing to do and the straight critics think I’m nuts.
MH:
Was there a particular review where you felt the critic just
didn’t get the book at all?
LK:
The Times
reviewer [Dwight Garner] really was unkind. I
can tell when a critic has read the book he’s reviewing. This guy
hadn’t. It’s as if he copied some blurbs from somewhere. And
in so doing he really hurts book sales.
MH:
I know you started this many years ago. When did you
first return to this book?
LK:
I started writing it after
Faggots
came out in 1978.
I’ve worked on it ever since, except for two long periods of
hospitalization.
MH:
The book is incredible. It’s such an intriguing fusion of
fiction and fact. How did you arrive at the style?
LK:
The same way any writer arrives at anything. You write
and you discover. If you’re lucky, somewhere along the way the
style reveals itself.
MH:
Because you are taking these speculative flights, do you
worry that some of the things you intend to be read as histori-
cal fact might be read as fiction?
LK:
Let them believe anything they want to. I just want them
to take the journey.
MH:
Some critics are suggesting you are taking too many lib-
erties with history. Historian Ron Chernow told
The New York
Times
that “we have to be careful not to ransack history in serv-
ice of a political agenda.” Your response?
LK:
Bullshit. His writing is in service to a political agenda. As
a straight white man he doesn’t see that, but as a gay man I can
see it all over the place.
MH:
You disdain straight historians repeatedly. Is there a
straight historian that you feel has stood out in terms of getting
some of our history correct?
LK:
No, because there are none.
MH:
You’ve said Reagan was the worst president the U.S. ever
had. Yet he’s the poster president for the contemporary GOP.
LK:
And he allowed AIDS to happen.
MH:
You are closely associated with NewYork. How crucial do
you think the city has been to the GLBT rights movement?
September–October 2015
11
COLUMB I A UN I VERS I TY PRESS
CUP
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COLUMBIA
.
EDU
·
CUPBLOG
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ORG
Gay Directors, Gay Films?
Pedro Almodóvar, Terence Davies, Todd Haynes,
Gus Van Sant, John Waters
EMANUEL LEVY
Recognizing the innovative work and distinct sensibilities of
five major gay American and European film directors.
“A vastly intelligent, comprehensively procured
treat for film buffs.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
NEW FROM
HARRINGTON PARK PRESS, LLC
Stormtrooper Families
Homosexuality and Community in the
Early Nazi Movement
ANDREW WACKERFUSS
“A fascinating picture of the private lives
of the SA, both as individuals and in their
close-knit groups.”
—Geoffrey Giles, University of Florida
Lesbian Decadence
Representations in Art and Literature
of Fin-de-Sièclè France
NICOLE G. ALBERT
Translated by Nancy Erber & William A. Peniston
“A marvel of elegance and erudition.”
—
Revue Inverses
25 b&w illustrations and 14 color illustrations
Coming in December 2015