David Bergman (1) (1950–)

I was blown away by this collection of essays by Edmund White. The Burning Library. Writings on Art, Politics and Sexuality 1969 - 1993, edited by David Bergman, has been in my possession for a very long time before I came round to reading it this summer. It is no exaggeration to compare this collection of essays with the work of Susan Sontag.

First of all, White's essays cover a very broad field, extending to all the major writers of the Twentieth century. Through his familiarity with show more European culture, being able to read French, White has truly profound knowledge and understanding of French culture and writers with long essays on Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, and Jean Genet. Then, too, Edmund White lived through most exciting times, witnessing the heights in the sexual liberation and emancipation of gay people between 1969 - 1993, as well as the lows during that period of the devastating AIDS epidemic. There are essays on Herve Guibert, Juan Goytisolo and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Edmund White knew or met many of the people he writes about. They were all there in it: Christopher Isherwood, Robert Mapplethorp, Truman Capote, William Burroughs, and Tennessee Williams.

Besides essays dedicated to writers there are several comtemplative essays on movements or the period. All essays are fabulously well-researched, and very well-written, I would never have guessed from mainly knowing Edmund White as a novelist. However, it should be remembered that he started his career as a non-fiction writer.

Highly recommended! show less

I love this wide-ranging selection of essays from the ubiquitous Edmund White's oeuvre. One can read about gay life and culture, literary commentary and criticism, and more in these entertaining and exemplary essays. Edmund White has a facility with prose that is among the best that I have encountered in my reading.

This edition of the "Men on Men" anthology series includes some of my favorite authors: Alexander Chee, Jim Grimsley and Edmund White are present. With the other stories there is a range of topics from coming out to dealing with Aids and beyond. A worthy addition to this now venerable series.

Rarely has a subtitle been so apt, or a series so consistently strong. Against the recent deluge of sloppy, would-be postmodern subcultural stories, Men on Men has regularly yielded a trove of well-wrought gay-themed short fiction. Gay critic, poet and anthologist Bergman includes among these 20 stories several by well-known authors.