Faggots

(Written by Larry Kramer, 1978)

Seen as a prophetic portrait of NYC before the AIDS epidemic would sweep through the city and take thousands of casualties in its grasp, gay rights activist / public health advocate / queer literary legend Larry Kramer could see the writing on the wall & decided to craft his an exploration of LGBT subculture on his own terms. Making as many fans as he did enemies in the gay community with his satirical, yet brutally honest novel Faggots, Kramer used the techniques of writers & luminaries of gonzo writing like Burroughs & Goines to remove the power of slurs & tropes, by taking ownership over them much like the exploitation filmmakers of the 70’s & 80’s, wearing them as a badge of honor forcing the negative connotations & harmful language to melt like ashes in his critics mouth. The novel, poignant & unapologetic in its writing, followers the character of Fred Lemish, loosely based upon writer Kramer, that becomes his literary alter ego much like Raoul Duke was to Thompson, allowing him to dive deep & explore his search in the 70’s New York underground queer culture to find the love of his life. What we witness is a series of misadventures; BDSM clubs, drug dens home to intense scenes of drug use, & bathhouses all become different locations where we become a fly on the wall in a city life for gay people still searching for their identity. A culture slowly coming out of the closet on its own terms, but still forced into a sort of purgatory state of city spots that remained in the shadows of promiscuity & harmful behavior. Kramer’s prose weave together a tapestry of human experience we’re proud to add to our library.