11/30/2022 0 Comments City of night book![]() There is a shortsightedness at play, a reluctance to recognize the wider repercussions of cruising. If you asked me afterward, I might reconsider.” “Would you die for it, for sex?” “If you asked me that when I had a cock in my mouth…yes I would. If this is the core of our cultural identity, should we curtail sexual desire, relinquishing our uniqueness in the process? That’s all God gave only us – and to no one else.” Is this intended as a critique or something to be celebrated? There is an ambivalence. “This is all there is…sex and more sex and still more sex. In a rare moment of tenderness, two characters reflect upon the state of gay cruising. I too operate within an unregulated sexual marketplace that offers little protection against abuse, bigotry and self-destruction.Įverything has changed. As a gay man living in New York City, I know these characters. I wish I could say the novel feels dated, that sexual demons no longer plague us as a community. In July, The New York Times broke news of a “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.” Thereafter, the cancer was to swarm through the gay community, along with other opportunistic infections. Set in the summer of 1981, our characters stand at the brink of the AIDS epidemic. Coming of the Night is a tale of destruction, of a landscape slowly burning away. Their desperation merges with the scorching Santa Ann that set the city ablaze. When the sexual encounters fail to fulfil them, rather than give up, they fuck with increasing determination. There is little logical reason for these men to routinely engage in the chase. Orgasms are deployed as weapons, vehicles of non-consensual domination. Body shaming and racism are welcomed into the bedroom. They are brutal, emblematic of an erotica that makes the toes crawl. When sexual encounters do occur, they are never passionate, never encouraging. What is it about the night that holds such promise? Why do they reject the prospect immediate satisfaction? Perhaps it is merely the promise of sex that drives them. Some reframe from ejaculation, waiting for darkness before coming. The sexual fulfilment they seek is elusive, something to be pursued, never attained. Santa Ana winds plague the neighborhood, trapping our characters within an increasingly dangerous environment plagued by desire and violence. Who populates this universe? Jesse, celebrating a year of “being gay” the best way he knows how Paul, a partnered man struggling to cruise as his boyfriend embarks on a weekend of sex in San Fransicso Dave, a Leatherman “bent on testing limits ” Thomas, lost in sexual fantasies Buzz, hellbent on traumatizing West Hollywood’s ‘Fuckin’ faggots.” There are hustlers and priests. We become part of the city’s DNA, a fly on the wall that merely watches and observes. Locations become familiar, background voices, recognizable. Rechy makes excellent use of bit parts, allowing storylines to merge. Supporting characters fall to the sidelines as major players march forth. It devastates.Ĭhapters consist of mini-stories, each following a specific character on a sexual vision quest. For Rechy, sex exists as a demonic force. Whatever positivity and liberation may exist soon gives way to a darkness that overwhelms the text. Public sites of cruising overflow with promise and excitement. The plot: a day in the life of 12 characters looking for sex. This novel really shouldn’t work, yet, somehow, it does. There are no obvious characters to root for, no literary attachments to be found on the page. They are crass, self-righteous and often, down-right mean. Characters exist as flashes, brushed aside by a prose that tumbles forward. The plot is weak and at times, cringe-worthy. We fall for their charm, empathizing with their struggles and relishing in their victories. How, they may wonder, was the book authored by the mastermind behind City of Night (1963), a landmark in gay storytelling? Often, when plot fails, characters can save a text. Readers ought to be left frustrated, disappointed, and confused. The Coming of the Night (1999) is a novel that shouldn’t work. ![]()
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