Now & Then [Paperback]

William Corlett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

When his father dies, Christopher returns to his childhood home to comfort his mother. He finds some photographs from his days at public school and it becomes clear that he had an affair with Stephen, a prefect two years his senior. Christopher, now nearly 50, decides to trace him.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The novel of remembrance--most often of love lost--is one of the most common of pre-Stonewall gay male literary themes. While it was enthusiastically replaced by the ever-popular theme of "come out and have sex," it has not completely passed into oblivion. William Corlett's enchanting and elucidating Now and Then has a decidedly pre-Stonewall feel to it, a tone of melancholia and nostalgia both surprising and comforting. Christopher Metcalf is a book editor at midlife who, upon returning home for his father's funeral, is faced with the painful memory of a love he lost at the age of 15 when he was betrayed by an older schoolmate whom he adored. Christopher's memories and his slow recognition of how he has squandered his emotional life over the years are moving, even startling. Corlett's language has a touch of classical elegance to it, yet resonates with contemporary idiom and briskness. The most astonishing aspect of Now and Then, however, is its refusal to become sentimental or present tough emotions in an easy or baleful manner. In this, it transforms a pre-Stonewall theme into a decidedly post-Stonewall novel. --Michael Bronski

Review

Beautifully written and very moving. MIDWEEK --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555834248
• ISBN-13: 978-1555834241
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #988,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Astonishingly Poignant Love Story, January 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Now & Then (Paperback)

From the onset of his story, William Cortlett brings us into the heart of his main character, Christopher Metcalfe. While summoned home upon the death of his father, the rather detached Chris returns home to deal with lost innocence and the disallusionment of a wasted life. Finding among his fathers belongings a box containing memorabilia from Chris' own days at boarding school. This prompts a moving detail of Chris' romance with an older boy at school. The author brings us the intensity of adolescent love and sexual desire, with all the abandon given to it at that age. Never once do we doubt Chris' reasons for his love, his desire is felt by the reader, as is his confusion as to it's demise. While the focus being Chris' romance with Stephen at school, the chapters of Chris' life at present brings much to the reader as well. His mother's sense of loss is not nearly as profound as one might have expected, and her life parallel's her sons in many ways. These two characters both must deal with lives wasted on denial of one's true being, following safe roads, forsaking the heart by taking the safer and more constant way through life, only to have regrets later on. There are other characters in the Now part of the story who also show us what a treacherous road are hearts can lead us to. There is also much to be said of Stephen, Chris' object of desire while in school. Stephen, for all his classic British Upper Middle classman ship, has chosen to follow his libido through life, beleiving in his own pleasure first, a direct dichotomy to Chris and his Mother. I was left with a feeling of exhilaration after reading this book. I wanted to seize the moments of my life and live each day fully and honestly, wanting no regrets at the days end. I wish to follow the intuitive heart, the sensual path, and beleive I need not worry what sort of impression I'm giving others, but what a life fully recognized has to offer.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, poignant, absorbing and disturbing, December 15, 1999

By 

GrayGayGuide "GrayGay.com" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Now & Then (Paperback)

I read this book in a day, I was so absorbed and horrified with the similarities between the narrators life and my own. I was brought up in Sevenoaks and went to a minor public school 50 miles away (never got molested once - and I demand my money back!). He absolutely captures the English middle-class attitudes and denial of emotions as well as the horrific nature (for many) of English public-school life. The alternate past and present format for each chapter works extremely well. His description of the thoughts and emotions of the young Chris, and suppressed emotions of the older version are heart-wrenchingly accurate.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a poignant memory of your first love, July 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Now & Then (Paperback)

As a reader who speaks English as a second language, I had to keep my dictionary while reading the book to the end. From the first day I started to read the book, I couldn't stop thinking of Kit's life and his love towards Stephen. His deep, poignant and still moving love made me shiver all the time. I even felt the turbulance of his inner state while he first started to think of Stephen when he sorted out things which his father had kept in his study and encountered his past looking at the photos of his schooldays. I sometimes think that it may be my future when I get fortysomething. Even though I was not in passionate love which Chris was in. I read the book six times in order to understand completely by looking up all the difficult words in the dictionary. I cried and shared all the sadness with Chris. Hope Chris will find his true happiness and let his poinant memories behind. This novel was simply magnificient, beautifully written and moving.