scholarly journals Archaeologies of Gossip: AIDS in Contemporary Gay Fiction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emily Sutton

<p>Queer criticism is now in its third decade and, as critical orthodoxy, running up against its own limitations. What, for example, is a discipline preoccupied with the unspoken, the marginal and the blurring of gender boundaries to do with Edmund White’s unambiguously gay, masculine “red unsheathed fury of the third penis of the afternoon”? The Western AIDS novel is, overwhelmingly, a product of a historically precise, explicitly gay, male experience. This thesis seeks unapologetically to engage with this writing on its own terms, eschewing the queer critical lens as insufficient, and, rather, reading for a specifically gay aesthetic. Grounded in a broader overview of both AIDS novels and existing criticism, this thesis consists of extended close readings of two exemplary AIDS novels: Edmund White’s The Farewell Symphony and Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty. Firstly, I articulate the centrality of the gay sexual body to the representation of AIDS in The Farewell Symphony, tracing its representation of the disease through the epidemiological mapping of the virus itself, within the highly specific culture of gay New York in the 1970s. Secondly, I examine the way in which the re-imagination of a selective tradition of gay literary predecessors in The Line of Beauty, specifically Henry James and Oscar Wilde, provides an aesthetic solution to articulating AIDS.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emily Sutton

<p>Queer criticism is now in its third decade and, as critical orthodoxy, running up against its own limitations. What, for example, is a discipline preoccupied with the unspoken, the marginal and the blurring of gender boundaries to do with Edmund White’s unambiguously gay, masculine “red unsheathed fury of the third penis of the afternoon”? The Western AIDS novel is, overwhelmingly, a product of a historically precise, explicitly gay, male experience. This thesis seeks unapologetically to engage with this writing on its own terms, eschewing the queer critical lens as insufficient, and, rather, reading for a specifically gay aesthetic. Grounded in a broader overview of both AIDS novels and existing criticism, this thesis consists of extended close readings of two exemplary AIDS novels: Edmund White’s The Farewell Symphony and Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty. Firstly, I articulate the centrality of the gay sexual body to the representation of AIDS in The Farewell Symphony, tracing its representation of the disease through the epidemiological mapping of the virus itself, within the highly specific culture of gay New York in the 1970s. Secondly, I examine the way in which the re-imagination of a selective tradition of gay literary predecessors in The Line of Beauty, specifically Henry James and Oscar Wilde, provides an aesthetic solution to articulating AIDS.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-131
Author(s):  
Roman Kuhar

Gay Bosnians are struggling with the (US-based) concept of ‘coming out’. Homosexuality here is shameful and is only possible when it is secret, hidden, anonymous. My problem with queer theory and activism is not the theory itself. Indeed queer theory’s most important contribution is to disclose how the gay movement of the 1970s and 1980s only dealt with white gay male experience, thus centralising some identities and marginalising others. However my problem (or, to be more exact, my concern or maybe my own ignorance) is how to translate queer theory into the practice of everyday politics, especially in thepostwar areas of the former Yugoslavia. As yet, it seems that the (radical) US queer model does not translate well into those societies on the doorstep of the European Union (EU). Even so, as someone at the Queer Zagreb conference mentioned, New York and San Francisco are not the USA, which means that ‘queering’ in some other parts of the country would provoke similar hostile reactions, or, to put it differently, one can find Bosnia in many parts of the USA. The million-dollar question, therefore, is how to translate the queer sensibility of identities into policy papers and government resolutions.


2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Brothers

The rise of neo-Nazism in the capital of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) was not inspired by a desire to recreate Hitler's Reich, but by youthful rebellion against the political and social culture of the GDR's Communist regime. This is detailed in Fuehrer-Ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo-Naxi by Ingo Hasselbach with Tom Reiss (Random House, New York, 1996). This movement, however, eventually worked towards returning Germany to its former 'glory' under the Third Reich under the guidance of 'professional' Nazis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 1264.2-1265
Author(s):  
O. Krichevskaya ◽  
T. Dubinina ◽  
E. Ilinykh ◽  
S. Glukhova ◽  
A. Demina

Background:NSAIDs remain the first-line drugs in treatment of AS. During pregnancy, COX-2 non-selective NSAIDs are allowed for intake up to 32 weeks, but the question of the dose-dependent effect of NSAIDs on fetal organogenesis in the 1st trimester and on fetal kidney function and the increased risk of bleeding in childbirth when taken in the second half of pregnancy continues to be discussed. At the same time, data on the effectiveness of NSAIDs, including their low and medium doses, during pregnancy are extremely small.Objectives:to describe the frequency of using NSAIDs during pregnancy, to determine relationship between the dose of NSAIDs, adherence to therapy with the activity of AS.Methods:50 pregnancies were followed in 49 pregnant women with confirmed AS (modified New York criteria, 1984). The average age of the pts was 31.6 ± 4.9 years, the duration of the disease was 134.4 ± 85.8 months. The visits were conducted at 10-11, 20-21, and 31-32 weeks of pregnancy. The BASDAI in the month of conception and in the trimesters (trim.) of pregnancy was: 1,4[0,6; 3,3]; 2,3[1,2; 4,4]; 2,8[1,4; 4,2] and 2,2[1,6; 4,0], respectively. The level of nocturnal back pain according to the NRS in the first, second and third trim. was: 3.2±2.0; 5.4±2.5 and 5.2±2.6, respectively. The drug of choice was ibuprofen at a maximum daily dose of 1200 mg, its withdrawal - no later than 32 weeks of pregnancy.Adherence to NSAID therapy was defined as the ratio of the actual dose taken to the prescribed dose; an indicator of less than 80% was regarded as non-adherence to therapy. The total dose of NSAIDs was determined by the NSAID intake index (M. Dougados, 2001). The” actual daily dose” of ibuprofen was the sum of the doses of ibuprofen taken, divided by the number of actual days of taking the drug. The “average daily dose” was defined as the sum of the ibuprofen doses taken, divided by the number of days in the trimester.Results:At the time of conception and in the first, second and third trim. of pregnancy, NSAIDs were taken 23 (46%), 20 (40%), 30 (60%) and 21 (43.8%) women, respectively. The NSAID intake index, the actual and average daily dose of ibuprofen are shown in the Table 1.month of conceptiontrim. 1trim. 2trim. 3the actual daily dose, mg-700[425; 800]800[400; 1000]750[400; 1200]the average daily dose, mg-158[87,9; 307,7]355,1[138,5; 685,7]580[320; 1200]NSAIDs intake index28,6 [16,7; 50]5,8 [2,9; 11,8]15,5 [4,7; 30,9]24,4 [9,5; 50]The index of NSAID intake in the first trim. was lower than before pregnancy and in the second half of gestation (p<0.05 compared to the month of conception, II and III trim.). The average daily dose of ibuprofen was also lower in the first trim. than in the second and third trim. (p<0.05), while the actual daily dose in the second trim. was higher than in the first and third trim. (p<0.05 in all cases).There was no correlation between BASDAI AS activity, the level of nocturnal pain and the ibuprofen intake index, likewise the fact of NSAID withdrawal throughout pregnancy. In addition, there were no differences in BASDAI levels and back pain in women with a subjective need for NSAIDs, who did and did’t take ibuprofen.50% of women were committed to NSAID therapy in the first trim., 43.5% in the second trim., and 67.4% in the third trim. In pts with non-adherence to NSAID therapy, the BASDAI level was higher than in those who followed the recommendations of the rheumatologist throughout pregnancy: in the first trim. – 3.8[3.4; 4.7] and 1.7[0.8; 2.2]; in the second trim. - 3[2.3; 4.6] and 1.4[0.8; 2.7]; in the third trim. - 3.1[2.1; 4.0] and 1.7[1.1; 4.0], p<0.05 in all cases. However, women with adherence > 80% were initially less active and NSAIDs were prescribed “on demand”, which increased their compliance.Conclusion:intake of ibuprofen in low doses does not affect the activity of AS. Due to the ongoing discussion about the effect of NSAIDs on neonatal outcomes, further international studies are required for development an optimal treatment regimen during pregnancy with a possible extension of the indications for the appointment of TNF inhibitors (BASDAI<4).Disclosure of Interests:None declared.


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