I have come to wonder if certain artistic forms are psychologically suited to specific cultures…I think of how well suited romantic opera is to late 19th century Italy, how Bach’s cantatas and keyboard stuff fit early 18th century Germany, how even the pop and op art of the 60s and 70s fit the spirit of the times in New York City.
Can it be that the American short story fits late 20th and early 21st century U. S. gay culture in much the same way? My opinions have changed over the last two years…moving from actively disliking short stories, to a grudging acknowledgement that some stories seem to be “OK”…and now to cautious enthusiasm when yet another book of gay short stories appears on my reviewer’s plate.
The Rose City follows an established tradition of tightly written, psychologically astute, sensitively conceived gay short fiction already reviewed. Like Holleran’s In September the Light Changes, Leavitt’s The Marble Quilt, and Larry Kinsman’s Water from the Moon, Ebershoff’s The Rose City is a group of short stories dealing with being gay, but I think with an in-focused timid sorrowful bent not so much seen in the material of these other writers.
The Rose City collection includes seven stories, six of which were previously published in gay literary outlets like Genre, Men on Men 6, and Best American Gay Fiction 2. The material has already been widely read with the exception of “Regime” the only piece not previously released to print.
Short stories, I’ve come to realize, must concentrate on the internal ruminations of the characters…there is little time to weave complex plot, so much seems to turn on the feelings and perceptions of the protagonist(s). Eberhoff’s protagonists are all gay but seem isolated, turned in on themselves, not so much egocentric as introspective. Three of the works deal with young men who believe that they are unlike any others in the world. In each, “The Dress,” “Trespass,” and “Regime” the boy feels lonely and alone, cannot communicate to his family the powerful feeling he experiences going through puberty. Each fears the loss of acceptance of the greater society should his gayness be found out.
All three are interesting, even riveting reading.
Especially pleasing was “The Charm Bracelet” about an attractive “twink” living at home but popularly sought after in the Boston clubs. He meets on his drunken way home a young woman who’s lost her charm bracelet. The story revolves around her dangerous situation, his reluctance, perhaps inability, to help her, and ultimately his realization that his world view could lead him to a life parallel to hers.
Ebershoff’s stories are meticulously crafted, but not all are likable. While I can recognize the talent and creativity in all, some stories I still don’t like. Two of the stories, “Chuck Paa” and “The Rose City,” from which the collection takes it’s title, left me unmoved and a little disappointed…nevertheless even they are well worth reading.
The Rose City is enjoyable enough, interesting enough, and insightful enough to recommend. I guess it’s sad that The Rose City has the national acclaim and the nominations for the Lambda Literary Award (the gay equivalent of science fictions Hugo and Nebula awards) while equally well written and maybe more enjoyable stuff like Kinsman’s Water from the Moon remains largely unrecognized.
Read it anyway… you may not like it but you won’t feel that you’ve wasted your time.