edmund white's MY LIVES

[best hotel]

....just read Edmund White's new autobiography....the chapters entitled, "MY HUSTLERS" and "MY MASTER" are amazing...and of interest to all of us middle aged bottoms who hire escort tops..his insights were incredible as he wrote about and lived the complex inverse power dynamic of paying someone to worship him....i wish he wrote this years ago...it might have prevented,or at least soothed,alot of heartbreak...i, for one, came through the last 10 years with the same lessons he learned, and the same absence of regrets...his grief over the end of his professional relatiuonship with one of his escorts was particularly moving....i highly recommend it

[Rod Hagen]

I read "My Hustlers" in the previous issue of McSweeny's, #18. I found it only mildly interesting. This may because he has brought his ideas of prostitution "then" into the "now." It's quite a different world now and even though he touches on those changes, I don't think he really gets it. Also Edmund White's work has never truly spoken to me.

 

I'm ashamed of this but whenever I read EW I can't separate the princess from the author. This aversion only increased after I read his New Yorker piece last fall about women who have loved him. Whatev. He has oodles of what I appreciate most in a person, intelligence, and I have deep respect for what he's done for and to Gay Lit.; I wish I liked him more. He lives on 15th (18th?) just off 8th. Hang out and give him your book to sign.

[best hotel]

i agree...the "MY HUSTLERS" chapter is more historical...the 'MY MASTER' chapter is more contemporary..the feelings are timeless

[Guest Jesse Dane]

I got a copy of this about 3 months ago and finally just finished it (I so rarely find time to read). A very interesting read I thought. I was supposed to have lunch with White before I left NYC, but things fell through. Hopefully I'll get the chance to connect with him when I get back to visit.

 

While the culture of hustling/escorting has changed dramatically over time, I still think that the stories can apply to today. While we may use the internet and sophisticated advertising now days instead of standing on street corners, a lot of the same issues still apply.

[Rod Hagen]

>I got a copy of this about 3 months ago and finally just

>finished it (I so rarely find time to read). A very

>interesting read I thought. I was supposed to have lunch with

>White before I left NYC, but things fell through. Hopefully

>I'll get the chance to connect with him when I get back to

>visit.

 

He must prefer the younger guys. I once emailed him at his princeton address with a compliment on something else he's written, and I think I also included an invitation to lunch. No response. Oh Well. For such a passionate, well-read, reader, I have fuck-all luck meeting them.

 

http://www.RodHagen.com

310.360.9890

Fun, Fit, Friendly Fucker in West Hollywood.

-Rod Hagen

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Overall a good read, but not totally what i had expected from some of the earlier chapters of the book.

 

White is, yes, brutally honest about himself, but in the past he's been called the 'American Marcel Proust,' a title i'm not so sure he quite lives up to.

 

Interesting book i'm not quite done with yet: 'Self-Made Man' by Norah Vincent. Strains of 'Black Like Me' run through this first-person transformation and it's really an interesting look at a female perspective of hyper-masculinity. It's even more engrossing in some ways, as the obsevrations are that of a lesbian.

 

 

Happy Reading

 

 

 

BN