The Crisis of Desire: AIDS and the Fate of Gay Brotherhood [Hardcover]

Robin Hardy (Author), David Groff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 1999

With eloquent passion, Robin Hardy writes of the gay man's struggle to maintain power over his health, his body, and his sexuality in the face of a devastating epidemic. Building on the work of books like Paul Monette's Borrowed Time and Randy Shilts's And the Band Played On, The Crisis of Desire combines memoir and social critique in a forward-looking appeal to gay men to accept "the mortal risk of loving." Historically, AIDS forced gay men into a defensive position that devastated their community and their sense of themselves. Today, whether they are fighting for health care or exploring their sexuality, gay men are constrained by society and the government--and also by their own estrangement from the pre-AIDS era of sexual possibility. Because HIV is more manageable for many, the issues of sexual health, responsibility, and sexual empowerment are more vital than ever. A fresh and persuasive call in an urgent debate, The Crisis of Desire is a return to the Stonewall legacy, a bold commitment to connections based on truth, human care, and the sexual authenticity of the individual.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What has AIDS done to us gay men? is a question that can only be answered one gay man at a time. Decrying New Age Bunnies who claim that AIDS is the best thing that ever happened to them, Hardy asserts that if there is redemption in living with HIV, it is only in determining that something good can be constructed in the midst of great evil, and it can only be personal. With an eclectic mix of memoir, social history, diatribe, journalism and cultural criticism, he defends and celebrates the sex-positive ways gay men have continued to connect in the face of an ongoing catastrophe. Hardy, who died in a mountaineering accident before AIDS could kill him, believed HIV is not the enemy of sex; its the antagonist of love, and that even against death, revolution can be joyful. At its most incisive, the book documents AIDSs great evil, governmental and institutional inaction and the loss of most of a generation of gay men... who would have told the rest of us how to grow old, how to be adult. Hardy was a first-rate journalist whose honesty and intelligence are most evident in his personal history, particularly his account of a Dutch lovers state-sanctioned euthanasia. The greatest strength of the book is in its portraiture and reminiscences. Although Hardy left this manuscript incomplete, editor David Groff has done an excellent job of preserving the work of an important writer.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Hardy was a gay liberation pioneer, and like most of them, he got AIDS. But he died in a mountaineering accident, not of AIDS, leaving this book to be finished from his notes and in his voice by Groff, as the latter explains in a splendid introduction-cum-eulogy. The book complains about AIDS and the lagging response to it, but, more important, it restates the original gay lib ideal of a society of brothers (and sisters) developed, as the last chapter's title puts it, "Beyond the Culture of Love" --specifically, romantic and monogamous love. The binding forces in such a society would be sexual desire and its unhindered fulfillment. Love, now held captive by marriage, would be directed instead to all fellow humans and to the planet. AIDS deflected gay liberation from that vision, Hardy thought. Besides enriching his arguments with amusing, instructive, and moving personal stories, Hardy states the gay lib position and the AIDS activists' case against the medical-scientific establishment more stylishly and cogently and less inflammatorily and defensively than any of his predecessors has. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395745446
• ISBN-13: 978-0395745441
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,722,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tender & often hilarious portrayal of sexual confusion, November 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The EXTRA MAN (Hardcover)

"The Extra Man" is Ames' follow-up to his debut novel, "I Pass Like Night," which covers some of the same territory, but is not as detailed as this. Here, Louis Ives, a sexually confused school teacher, is fired from his job following a comic encounter with a female colleague's bra. Determined to start life anew, he moves to NYC into the claustrophobic, roach-infested sty of an apartment with Henry Harrison, a misanthropic elder who makes his way through life as a gentleman escort for woman in high society. While in New York, Louis succumbs to the temptations and mystique of transvestite hookers in seamy Times Square, all the while cultivating his relationship with Henry, who serves so very well as the father figure Louis has always craved. "The Extra Man" is eminently accessible, and filled with honest, frenetic, and ribald writing reminiscent of Philip Roth and Paul Rudnick. I've never read a novel quite like this.Throughout, I rooted for both Louis and Henry, who became, for me, the quintessentail post-modern "odd couple." "The Extra Man" is as touching as it is funny.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kinky Klassic, April 4, 2004

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Dangle's girl (Astoria, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Extra Man (Contemporary Classics (Washington Square Press)) (Paperback)

Boy am I glad I picked up "Extra Man" before anything else by Jonathan Ames. Struck by his work for the New York Press, I finally found this book secondhand and it's a classic! Ames has a very distinctive and winning voice and his New York is a perfect balance of charm, chaos and perversion. Unfortunately, Ames tends to recycle the best bits in his work, but what incredible bits! His great aunt should be bronzed and put in Central Park as an unforgettable New York character. She needs a book of her own, Jonathan!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Overlooked Book of past 10 years, March 8, 2002

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"mikapl01" (Fair Lawn, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Extra Man (Contemporary Classics (Washington Square Press)) (Paperback)

Reading this brilliant novel, I can't help but thinking what a shame it is the author remains largely unknown. Part Fitzgerald/part Bukowski, Ames is a master of noticing 1st person male neuroses but and is as inventive with his characters and dialogue as any modern out there! Aone with a sense of humor needs to read this!!! Hysterically funny this is a book you'll read in one sitting, not because of simplistic style, but because it's that damn good!!! Oh, and you'll never look at a transexual the same way again.