Dancer from the Dance is not a book that everyone will enjoy. In fact I was surprised, and a little dismayed, to learn that none of my friends liked it, much less raved about it. Nevertheless I stand by my opinion that this is an extraordinary book, one that captures the freewheeling spirit of the years following Stonewall, the rarified ambiance in which the characters lived and moved, but mostly the sometimes frenetic energy of the city.
Set in New York City (see “the City” above) in the mid 1970s before the emergence of AIDS, the novel tells of a group of gay men who travel in the most “in” of the gay in-groups of the time. The focus is on a dyad, two friends (apparently never lovers) who are the prime movers of their social circle. Sutherland, the epitome of flamboyance meets and befriends a gay man, Malone, more conventional in his social presentation. How that occurs is improbable, amusing, and a little violent.
The whole novel then circles around vivid descriptions, of the in-life, the drugs, the gossip, and, oh yes, the dancing, for some of these rarified creatures live only to dance and the discaire (DJ) is one of the most important figures in their world.
The action is fascinating and the wit and point of view, especially of Sutherland, is urbane, sophisticated, caustic, sad, amusing, and sometimes conceited. OK, sometimes pretentious! Insights into this time abound... “He isn’t even aware of all the things he’s stirring up inside another man’s soul...” How true even today of many of our younger brothers.
How about “He had fallen in love: not with the young man, but the thought of him...” This also happens all too often.
The prose is delightful... “Golden dune grass caught the light and burned an intenser gold as the rest of the island was bathed in blue light and rumors of suicide.”
“We were living on faces, music, the hope of love, and getting farther and farther away from any chance of it.” “Everything is beautiful here, and that is all it is: beautiful.”
The mindset of the time is depicted without offense: the author never shies away from writing clearly...consider:
“Never forget that all these people are primarily visual people and their sins are the sins of the eye.” “Indifference is the greatest aphrodisiac, never underestimate the value of indifference.”
“The vast majority of homosexuals are looking for a superman to love and find it very difficult to love anyone merely human which we unfortunately happen to be.”
Best of all... “They faced each other at opposite ends of an illusion.”
So what do you think? I read it as vivid insightful reality...some read it as pretentious twaddle.
Yet the City lives and that is what the book is about... “What he loved finally was only the city!!!”
I think this is one of best of the books reviewed to date. You may not like it, but for me it was a feast of emotion and description and yes, I long to go back to the City...alas this City no longer exists. It never did!