March 13

James Purdy, gay avant-garde writer

James Purdy, an avant-garde gay writer, died two years ago today (March 13, 2009), four months shy of his 95th birthday. Alert readers will recall that while he was a teenager, he had an affair with Samuel Steward, the subject of yesterday’s post.

Purdy famously rejected identity politics or defining oneself by sexuality. In an interview on Dutch television, Purdy professed that there is no such thing as either homosexuality or heterosexuality. He said both have been "invented by mechanists, psychologists who have never understood human nature." Similarly, in an interview with Purdy scholar Richard Canning, he said that most gays and blacks refuse to admit "that beneath a homosexual and a black is something that's neither homosexual nor black."

Well, I’m still working on a post about this fascinating and challenging gay man, but it’s not yet ready for prime time. Purdy was born in 1914, until quite recently providing a living link to four past generations; he had early memories of the impact of WW I on his family. Purdy went on to write significant plays, poetry and fiction. His novel Malcom (1959) was once on the reading lists of most U.S. colleges as a staple of the undergraduate American Literature curriculum.

Until I can deliver a proper post, let’s take a moment to remember Purdy on the second anniversary of his death. He produced a large body of literature, most of it dark comic fiction about deluded innocence, sexual obsession, isolation and violence. Gay filmmaker and social commentator John Waters, commenting on a collection of Purdy’s plays, said, "James Purdy's writing will break your damaged little heart.” As well, Gore Vidal called Purdy an “authentic American genius”. So stay tuned.