Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing (Hardcover)

~ Raphael Kadushin (Author, Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

<DIV>There are weekend vacations, quick getaways, and overnight jaunts. But in this border-hopping anthology of travel memoir and fiction, every trip is a big one, as an advance guard of adventurous writers—both seasoned names and fresh voices—scatter across the globe, face the pure euphoria and sheer anxiety of travel, and survive a lot of very fast living.             Reviving a time before the travel narrative devolved into puny 10-best lists, these writers don’t get sidetracked by shopping sprees, restaurant tips, or thread-counts. Told with verve, their odysseys remind us, instead, of the larger lures—the need for love, for adventure, for a new sense of place—that tempt us to leave home in the first place.             Wanderlust here comes in every shape and crosses every boundary, from Cairo to Florida, from Corfu and Rome to Vienna, Taormina, the Dordogne, and San Francisco. For Aaron Hamburger the big trip is a brave flirtation in Prague. For Dale Peck it’s an oddly romantic whirl through the clubs of London, and for Michael Klein it is the golden light of Provincetown, where everything seems possible. Duncan Fallowell sees classic sensuality in a Sicilian waiter, and Trebor Healey tries to find some sense of home along purely American backroads. Mack Friedman wanders through Mexico, Andrew Holleran confronts the wasteland of northern Florida, Bruce Benderson returns to a transformed San Francisco, Raphael Kadushin drives through a furry Yorkshire, and Ty Geltmaker remembers Rome when it really did approximate la dolce vita. Edmund White takes a double trip, through Paris and Morocco, and Martin Sherman visits a Greek island, where the intrepid traveler, just starting out, confronts his own loneliness.             A must for anyone who loves to travel, and also anyone who prefers to stay safe at home, Big Trips is an unforgettable voyage out.</DIV>

About the Author

<DIV> Raphael Kadushin is an award-winning food and travel writer whose work appears regularly in Bon Appetit, National Geographic Traveler, British Condé Nast Traveler, and the Condé Nast Web sites. His fiction and journalism has been widely anthologized in collections including Men on Men 5, Best Food Writing 2001, and National Geographic’s Through the Lens, and he is the editor of the anthology Wonderlands. He is the senior acquisitions editor at the University of Wisconsin Press.  
  Contributors:   Bruce Benderson is the author of seven books, including The Romanian: Story of an Obsession, User, and Pretending to Say No. He has contributed articles to New York Times Magazine, Village Voice, nest, Paris Vogue, Blackbook, Libération, and other media. An accomplished translator and bilingual author, he was awarded the prestigious Prix de Flore for literature in 2004—and he has also taught creative writing, urban culture, and French literature at colleges throughout the United States. He divides his time between New York and Paris.   Brian Bouldrey is the author of the nonfiction books Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica (University of Wisconsin Press, September, 2007), Monster: Adventures in American Machismo (Council Oak Books), and The Autobiography Box (Chronicle Books); three novels, The Genius of Desire (Ballantine), Love, the Magician (Harrington Park), and The Boom Economy (University of Wisconsin Press); and editor of several anthologies. He is recipient of Fellowships from Yaddo and Eastern Frontier Society, and the Joseph Henry Jackson Award from the San Francisco Foundation, a Lambda Literary Award, and the Western Regional Magazine Award. He teaches fiction and creative nonfiction at Northwestern University.   Clifford Chase is the author of a novel, Winkie (Grove Press, 2006), and The Hurry-Up Song: A Memoir of Losing My Brother (University of Wisconsin Press, 1999). His stories and memoirs have appeared in McSweeney's, Threepenny Review, Yale Review, and other journals and anthologies. He lives in Brooklyn, where he is at work on a second memoir.   Duncan Fallowell is a British writer of fiction and non-fiction. His novels are Satyrday (1986), The Underbelly (1987) and A History of Facelifting (2003). He has written the travel books To Noto (1989) and One Hot Summer in St Petersburg (1994) and the biography of a transsexual April Ashley's Odyssey (1982). Fallowell is also a cultural commentator and journalist who has specialized in interview-portraits of unusual or celebrated personalities. A collection of these has been published as 20th Century Characters (1994) and two further volumes are planned.   Mack Friedman is author of Strapped for Cash: A History of American Hustler Culture and Setting the Lawn on Fire (UW Press) which won the Edmund White Award for best debut fiction in 2006. His essays have been featured at the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Art and the Leslie-Lohman Gallery, and his performance art has been showcased at the Andy Warhol Museum. His stories have appeared in the anthologies Between Men, Wonderlands, and Barnstorm. . He has contributed to the magazines Out Traveler and $pread, among others. He lives in Pennsylvania.   Philip Gambone is an award-winning essayist, journalist, and fiction writer living in Boston. He teaches writing at Harvard University. His previous work includes Something Inside: Conversations with Gay Fiction Writers, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press, and a book of stories, The Language We U

Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (September 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299228606
• ISBN-13: 978-0299228606
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #841,231 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Travel memoirs by established gay writers - a nice escape, February 13, 2009

By	Bob Lind "camelwest" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Among the more apt stereotypes of gay men is that we are globetrotting leisure travelers. As such, we'd be a good source of suggestions for unique travel locales and experiences, although many of us rarely venture too far from home.

This is a collection of travel memoirs from a variety of published gay authors, ranging from recollections of travels experiences decades ago (and not likely to be accurate today), to more modern itineraries, from out-of-the-way places to popular tourist destinations. The writing style is mostly narratives, and some are parts of a larger work by the author, with one actually a scene (complete with stage directions) from a play. Like any short story collection, there are some you will love, others that may not be so enjoyable (A couple of them bored me to tears, but that could be a result of my having no real interest in the destination being written about.) The authors' list reads almost like a who's who of gay authors, including Bruce Benderson (a former San Francisco hippie, who takes us on his trip revisiting the Haight twenty years later), Aaron Hamburger, Trebor Healy (my favorite story in the book, on an emotional stopover in a small California town), Andrew Holleran (journey to a tacky retirement village in Florida), Dale Peck (checking out the club scene in London) and Edmund White (travels to Morocco and Paris). Those who are familiar with their regular works will recognize some of their style, although these stories generally go beyond the scope of their usual writings.

I found the book to be an interesting "escape" from everyday life, and recommended as such. Four stars out of five.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sequel to "Wonderlands" Great Short Stories, October 7, 2008

By	j.m. "d." - See all my reviews

A beautiful collection of travel writing that
is the perfect read for anyone who likes to travel, who likes to
vicariously travel, or who just enjoys good writing. Variously
moving, funny, and romantic (there are a lot of love stories
tucked in here), almost all the pieces offer a pay-off. Especially
strong: Edmund White's harrowing story of Morocco; Duncan
Fallowell's quietly erotic story of a flirtation in Sicily;
Raphael Kadushin's very funny and very sad coming of age story, set in a rainy England; Andrew Holleran's vision of a
dessicated Florida; and Martin Sherman's portrait of two castaways
on a Greek island.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Transporting Book, March 22, 2009

By	Omar Lopez-villamor - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Big Trips is one of the best anthologies of the year, and a must for anyone who loves good writing, and especially great travel writing. Kadushin starts things off perfectly with a very smart, funny introduction and the mix of well-known writers and fresh talents follow with a series of stories that jump all over the world (Cairo, Paris, San Francisco, Sicily, Greece, Prague). There isn't a weak piece in the bunch so you can dip in anywhere. Dale Peck's romance about a young man in London is sexy and sad; Michael Klein's piece about a perfect Provincetown summer is a moving romance; Trebor Healey's story about a man traveling cross country with his lover's ashes is poignant, and Kadushin's piece about a boy following his mentor through Yorkshire is a gorgeous story. Andrew Holleran's trip through a Florida wasteland is a great satire and Duncan Fallowell's flirtation with a Sicilian waiter, like all the pieces here, defies expectations. A real showcase of talents.