which an invert can be pressed into service as a character in a mass-consumption novel. If this must be the case for the present, let it remain so until a writer with both a strong talent and a deep understanding of the homosexual state makes his mark upon the literary scene. Since this seems to be a remote possibility at best, we should be satisfied with the honestly written and reasonably talented novels given us by Mr. Federoff and Miss Wolff.

There is only one more random thought which I would like to add. A certain reviewer, whose name has, perhaps mercifully, escaped me for the moment, commented on the abruptness and unreality of Warren Taggert's (apparent) renunciation of the homosexual life. May I suggest that Warren Taggert's move from blatancy to relative reticence is nothing more than maturation. A vow of

eternal celibacy is not a necessary climax to the "coming out" of a repressed homosexual. It is only logical that he should place his bedroom experiences in context as he grows up into the total world; it is only the immature or frustrated individual who must forever comment at length on his sex life. It seems obvious that this man has made his personal peace with his private demon: what his life consists of outside of his usual social and business contacts is his concern alone and would be out of place at that stage in the novel.

The Side of the Angels is flawed, like most first novels, but not dangerously so, and it presents one of the finest portrayals of the development of a homosexual in some time. In addition, it provides a vivid crosssection of our country in an era of immense turmoil and change.

Robb McKenzie

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