Garrard Conley
Author of Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family
Works by Garrard Conley
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Conley, Garrard
- Birthdate
- 1985-04-15
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Lyon College
- Occupations
- memoirist
teacher - Short biography
- Garrard Conley's fiction and nonfiction can be found in The Common, The Madison Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. He has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and Elizabeth Kostova Foundation writers' conferences. Conley currently teaches English literature and promotes LGBTQ equality in Sofia, Bulgaria. [from Boy Erased (2016)]
Garrard (pronounced without the final 'r;' a family oddity) Conley is the author of the memoir, Boy Erased, out from Riverhead (Penguin) May 2016. His work can be found in TIME, VICE, CNN, Buzzfeed Books, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. He has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and Elizabeth Kostova Foundation Writers' Conferences and has facilitated craft classes for Catapult, Grub Street, Sackett Street Writers Workshop, and the Fine Arts Works Center in Provincetown.
After growing up in a small Arkansan farming community, heading to a liberal arts college a few hours away, completing service for Peace Corps Ukraine, and attaining a Master's degree in creative writing and queer theory, Garrard taught literature in Sofia, Bulgaria at The American College of Sofia. He now lives in Brooklyn and teaches in NYC.
He has way too many coffee cups and never enough coffee. [adapted from GarrardConley.com] - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
Arkansas, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Penso che Boy Erased sia uno dei memoir più brutti che abbia mai letto nella mia vita. Avevo letto delle opinioni poco lusinghiere sulla scrittura di Conley, ma pensavo sinceramente che la sua storia – essere cresciuto in un ambiente fondamentalista cristiano ed essere stato sottoposto alla terapia riparativa dopo che i suoi genitori avevano scoperto la sua omosessualità – mi avrebbe fatto provare abbastanza simpatia per lui anche se non aveva scritto il memoir più bello del mondo.
E show more invece per niente: Boy Erased è riuscito nell’impresa di non dirmi assolutamente niente su un tema al quale sono così sensibile. È un libro che secondo me ha diversi problemi, il primo dei quali è sicuramente l’esposizione dei fatti. Ovviamente trattando di eventi realmente accaduti unə autorə non può intervenire sul modo in cui si sono svolti, ma cercherà di organizzarli in modo che lə lettorə lə segua lungo un percorso, un ragionamento, una maturazione: un filo rosso che generalmente è il motivo per cui si scrive il memoir.
Boy Erased mi è sembrato sprovvisto di questo filo rosso: Conley racconta diversi eventi della sua vita, ma sono così scollegati l’uno dall’altro che alla fine della lettura farei fatica a raccontare in maniera cronologica come si sono svolti i fatti. Non aiuta nemmeno che Conley abbia uno stile incredibilmente melodrammatico e carico: che bisogno c’è di annegare una storia che già di suo è drammatica con tutto questo patetismo e leziosità?
Ma l’elemento che forse mi ha dato più fastidio è che Boy Erased è una lunga lagna. Conley non è mai davvero critico verso niente di ciò che gli è successo: se ne lamenta e basta. Certo, non possiamo biasimarlo, ma le lagne sono lagne e da sole non fanno una critica costruttiva e non arricchiscono in alcun modo il dibattito sulla messa al bando delle terapie riparative.
Il punto è che aver avuto una certa esperienza non rende automaticamente in grado di parlare di quell’esperienza in modo intellegibile da chiunque: serve molto lavoro psicologico e forse anche filosofico e l’impressione che Conley dà di sé in questo libro è di essere rimasto bloccato da qualche parte nel suo percorso di elaborazione. Mi auguro che almeno scrivere questo libro lo abbia aiutato ad andare avanti e a ritrovare la serenità. show less
E show more invece per niente: Boy Erased è riuscito nell’impresa di non dirmi assolutamente niente su un tema al quale sono così sensibile. È un libro che secondo me ha diversi problemi, il primo dei quali è sicuramente l’esposizione dei fatti. Ovviamente trattando di eventi realmente accaduti unə autorə non può intervenire sul modo in cui si sono svolti, ma cercherà di organizzarli in modo che lə lettorə lə segua lungo un percorso, un ragionamento, una maturazione: un filo rosso che generalmente è il motivo per cui si scrive il memoir.
Boy Erased mi è sembrato sprovvisto di questo filo rosso: Conley racconta diversi eventi della sua vita, ma sono così scollegati l’uno dall’altro che alla fine della lettura farei fatica a raccontare in maniera cronologica come si sono svolti i fatti. Non aiuta nemmeno che Conley abbia uno stile incredibilmente melodrammatico e carico: che bisogno c’è di annegare una storia che già di suo è drammatica con tutto questo patetismo e leziosità?
Ma l’elemento che forse mi ha dato più fastidio è che Boy Erased è una lunga lagna. Conley non è mai davvero critico verso niente di ciò che gli è successo: se ne lamenta e basta. Certo, non possiamo biasimarlo, ma le lagne sono lagne e da sole non fanno una critica costruttiva e non arricchiscono in alcun modo il dibattito sulla messa al bando delle terapie riparative.
Il punto è che aver avuto una certa esperienza non rende automaticamente in grado di parlare di quell’esperienza in modo intellegibile da chiunque: serve molto lavoro psicologico e forse anche filosofico e l’impressione che Conley dà di sé in questo libro è di essere rimasto bloccato da qualche parte nel suo percorso di elaborazione. Mi auguro che almeno scrivere questo libro lo abbia aiutato ad andare avanti e a ritrovare la serenità. show less
I've often struggled with understanding how fundamental faith, and religion an play a part in a gay man's journey. I haven't personally had to deal with these factors, and so haven't ever understood that level of shame.
This memoir, in its beautiful prose, opened a door into the mind of a young man struggling with just that. How do you come to terms and love yourself for who you are without losing your relationship with God. Especially when everyone is telling you that God will not love you show more if you accept this part of yourself.
This memoir was haunting, and horrible, and devastating, and beautiful. Conley is a wonderful writer, and was able to capture the conflicts of his mind and heart in a pure and raw way that allowed me as a reader to feel every ache, and doubt with him.
I think this is an important memoir, and one that needs telling. While it may no longer be as widely recognized, conversion therapy exists still today, and Conley's epilogue alone is proof of the long lasting, potentially permanent, damage it can do to someone.
This is not an easy memoir to get through and it certainly took a toll on me while reading. Yet, regardless of how hard it was, I felt it necessary. Certainly necessary for different reasons for different readers. For me, it allowed me to understand a part of my own community that I didn't before. For someone struggling with religion and their sexuality, it an help them to see someone else going through the same struggle, feeling the same things. Amid, other important take away's for other readers I'm sure.
It's important to tell as many of our communities stories as possible to show the wide range of human soul's these prejudices impact.
There were so many times that I wanted to scream, to cry, to reach out and take Garrard by the shoulders and promise it will be ok.
This book got to me. I think, if you read it, it will get to you too. show less
This memoir, in its beautiful prose, opened a door into the mind of a young man struggling with just that. How do you come to terms and love yourself for who you are without losing your relationship with God. Especially when everyone is telling you that God will not love you show more if you accept this part of yourself.
This memoir was haunting, and horrible, and devastating, and beautiful. Conley is a wonderful writer, and was able to capture the conflicts of his mind and heart in a pure and raw way that allowed me as a reader to feel every ache, and doubt with him.
I think this is an important memoir, and one that needs telling. While it may no longer be as widely recognized, conversion therapy exists still today, and Conley's epilogue alone is proof of the long lasting, potentially permanent, damage it can do to someone.
This is not an easy memoir to get through and it certainly took a toll on me while reading. Yet, regardless of how hard it was, I felt it necessary. Certainly necessary for different reasons for different readers. For me, it allowed me to understand a part of my own community that I didn't before. For someone struggling with religion and their sexuality, it an help them to see someone else going through the same struggle, feeling the same things. Amid, other important take away's for other readers I'm sure.
It's important to tell as many of our communities stories as possible to show the wide range of human soul's these prejudices impact.
There were so many times that I wanted to scream, to cry, to reach out and take Garrard by the shoulders and promise it will be ok.
This book got to me. I think, if you read it, it will get to you too. show less
Should have been an important indictment of conversion therapy, instead it becomes a disjointed, repetitive internal dialogue of a young gay man where he agonizes over his sinfulness and eventually comes to accept himself. Constantly jumping back and forth in time had me always wondering “where are we at now?” Fine prose, good writer but seriously needed a strong editor to focus this story.
This is one of the most devestating, beautifully-written books I've read in a long time. Boy Erased is an incredibly revealing look at Garrard Conley's experience growing up in fundamentalist Christianity, his rape and subsequent outing to his parents, and his time spent in conversion therapy.
There are some big things that really struck me about the book and have kept me thinking about it long after I finished reading it.
Firstly, the sheer honesty of this book. I commend Conley for how open show more he is throughout this book and the extent to which he is willing to be vulnerable on the page. It makes the book so powerful.
Secondly, the overall feeling of the book. With the subject matter covered, it would be so easy for book to be angry or resentful. Ultimately, though, Conley writes with a great deal of compassion and love. In a lot of ways, the book mirrors what can be the experience of growing up with fundamentalist Christianity: an uncomfortable and confusing juxtaposition of love and hurt.
Finally, there's the form of conversion therapy depicted in the book. While there are some forms out there that use electroshock, for example, the type shown in Boy Erased is mainly based on talk, acting things out, or drawing family trees. It's not the dramatic type that we often see portrayed in popular culture, but its effects are absolutely devastating.
And I think it's that last factor that is the most powerful, especially in this political climate. There are a lot of harmful things worked into political platforms, and advocated by politicians and religious leaders. It's worked right into our culture, it's insidious, and it's something that we all need to be aware of.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely beautiful writing style. This book is hard to read but also completely beautiful at the same time. Highly recommended. show less
There are some big things that really struck me about the book and have kept me thinking about it long after I finished reading it.
Firstly, the sheer honesty of this book. I commend Conley for how open show more he is throughout this book and the extent to which he is willing to be vulnerable on the page. It makes the book so powerful.
Secondly, the overall feeling of the book. With the subject matter covered, it would be so easy for book to be angry or resentful. Ultimately, though, Conley writes with a great deal of compassion and love. In a lot of ways, the book mirrors what can be the experience of growing up with fundamentalist Christianity: an uncomfortable and confusing juxtaposition of love and hurt.
Finally, there's the form of conversion therapy depicted in the book. While there are some forms out there that use electroshock, for example, the type shown in Boy Erased is mainly based on talk, acting things out, or drawing family trees. It's not the dramatic type that we often see portrayed in popular culture, but its effects are absolutely devastating.
And I think it's that last factor that is the most powerful, especially in this political climate. There are a lot of harmful things worked into political platforms, and advocated by politicians and religious leaders. It's worked right into our culture, it's insidious, and it's something that we all need to be aware of.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely beautiful writing style. This book is hard to read but also completely beautiful at the same time. Highly recommended. show less
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- Works
- 6
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- 3
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- Popularity
- #28,083
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 20
- ISBNs
- 37
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