The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag: And Other Intimate Literary Portraits of the Bohemian Era (Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiog) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Poet Field has been in the midst of Greenwich Village's bohemian life since 1946, when he moved there, fresh from the armed forces, at the age of 22. These 25 short essays and sketches ramble nicely over the years and through his friendships to form a memoir that is more nostalgic than intellectually vigorous. The thread that connects most of these chatty stories is Field's close relationship with the enigmatic, unstable Alfred Chester, a writer of elegant, rarefied fiction who throughout his life and after his death in 1971 has maintained a cult status as a writer's writer. It's Chester, with his intense relationships with Cynthia Ozick, Harriet Sohmers and Susan Sontag—whom he, possibly skirting a mental breakdown, had decided to marry even though he was a homosexual—who takes up the emotional bulk of Field's memoir and whose vivid image lingers. While Field write of his own career, it is always modestly. At times elusively vague but often very charming, this volume will be of serious interest to anyone intrigued by New York literary life of the 1950s and '60s. (Feb.)
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Review

“Such fine writing, such style, and also, an eye and ear for what we want to see and hear. Edward Field fills in a big gap and offers some deeper ideas about what created some of the great writers and artists of our time. After reading a chapter, I feel like I’ve just had a martini with Edward Field.”—Brian Bouldrey, author of The Boom Economy

“Edward Field’s memoir vividly recounts the story of New York bohemian life since the fifties, a world that is now gone. With its tell-all bluntness and gossipy intimacy, it brings to life—as no other work that I know—the spirit of gay bohemia.”—David Bergman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; First Edition edition (December 9, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 029921320X
• ISBN-13: 978-0299213206
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,308,899 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars memoir of the 1950s and Beat era mostly in Greenwich Village, February 22, 2006

By	Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Field, an award-winning gay poet now in his seventies, brings the bohemianism of the 1950s alive. The content is a reminiscence made up mostly of vignettes of individuals Field knew rather than literary or social history; though the impress of the bohemianism centered in Greenwich Village on American literature and culture comes out. Susan Sontag, James Baldwin, May Swenson, Paul Bowles, and Frank O'Hara all make appearances, along with numerous other famed artists and little-known, yet still colorful individuals including the author's partner Neil Derrick. The six-page index consists entirely of the names of individuals Field portrays to varying degrees. Much of the memoir focuses on the sexual escapades and relationships of many characters and how the author and others got by as homosexuals in this era when this was not as open as it is today, yet nonetheless accepted in the limited, adventurous world of Greenwich Village. For Field's position in the local art scene, his wide circle of friends and acquaintances, and his extended treatment of the libertine sexual activity, the work is a basic source on this notable, particularly fertile vein of American artistic creativity.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Closet in Bohemia?, April 5, 2007

By	Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag: And Other Intimate Literary Portraits of the Bohemian Era (Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiog) (Paperback)

[...]
The bohemian scene in New York was one that consisted of many members from the world of literature. Edward Field was a member of that group. He like others was searching for achievement and fulfillment as both a gay man and as a poet. With four collections of poetry to his credit--two of which were prize winners--who better can describe the vibrant scene at that time? He writes about the avant garde in Greenwich Village as well as of what was going on in the salons of the Left Bank in Paris and in the outpost of Tangiers. It was possible to be openly gay in those places outside of America and he provides us with exciting portraits of some of the people of letters of the time--Susan Sontag, Alfred Chester, May Swenson, James Baldwin, Paul Bowles and Frank O'Hara. In doing so he gives a lively look at the romantic age when Bohemia was an alternative lifestyle.
Edward Field, the author of this book, is plain-spoken as well as out spoken. He tells it like it was in this wonderful book at an age that contributed so much to the world of literature. At 70 years old, he manages to bring the bohemia of the 1950's to life once again. What he has written is a reminiscence which is made up of many little stories of people he knew, This is neither a social nor a literary history but a look at that group of people who chose to live as they saw fit. I suppose the book can be classified as a memoir which is centered on the sexual escapades of the people Field writes about. He describes for us the fertility of American artistry and does so with cheek and with openness. The focus is not exactly centered as the information is but it is beautifully written and so much fun to read.
The salons of Greenwich Village brought us so much and the stories continue to keep coming. Field was there--in the midst of it all--and has something to say about what was transpiring. It is half gossip and the other half fascinating stories and some of the details are amazing. The literary world of the time was primarily carried by gays and lesbians and we know they have stores to tell. The writers that Field tells about are colorful people and their stories are all part of a larger whole crafted by this wonderful writer---he is candid and he is very perceptive (we should all be thankful for his memory). As a picture of Americana and literature, this is the book to read. As for the title, you will have to read the book to find out what it means.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Alfred (not Arthur) Chester Is the Man -- But Do You Care?, September 10, 2007

By	G. Charles Steiner "Charles Steiner" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag: And Other Intimate Literary Portraits of the Bohemian Era (Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiog) (Paperback)

The man who would marry Susan Sontag was Alfred Chester, a dislikeable gay writer with a great literary brain. If the now known identity of the mysterious titled man isn't good enough to make you want to read the book, please read on. If it is, you should stop reading and buy the book immediately.

Edward Field is a plain-spoken, secularist poet, yet the best (and most interesting) aspect of his memoir is his chapter on G.I. Gurdjieff and the equally mysterious novelist, Fritz Peters -- despite the fact that most of the memoir is devoted to Alfred Chester and author Paul Bowles. Also Fields' remarks about Peter Ouspensky, a student of Gurdjieff at one point in time, are sufficiently weighty as to have caused this reader to toss out his own copies of "Tertrium Organum" and "In Search of the Miraculous" and onto the pile of books going to the used book store or Goodwill.

Fields wants to make the case that Susan Sontag was somehow responsible for Alfred Chester's death, a contention that has no real evidence but which reads more as bitchiness and jealousy toward a strong intellectual woman, thus making an unattractive self-portrait.

The memoir at times is tedious and over-detailed in its study of minor artists even while it peaks a certain curiosity in, for example, Richard Howard's non-fiction writing and, say, the poetry of Gerald Locklin.

This memoir is well-written but it is, I think, eccentrically focused.