JULY 5, 1996

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

25

BOOKS

'Gay identity' has a lot to do with where you live

A Queer Geography

Journeys Toward a Sexual Self by Frank Browning Crown Publishers

Reviewed by Nels P. Highberg Upon meeting someone for the first time, one of the first questions asked is

credited with leading to the formation of queer theory and its academic popularity. He then describes three men, Brandy, Fred, and Bob. Placing these stories together heightens the connections between Foucault's work on power and categories of classification and identity, and how gay men actually live.

A Queer Geography forces readers to think about themselves, an accomplishment for any book. Reading Browning's reflections on how he has become the man he is today, I cannot help but think about my own meanderings from

A Queer Geograph

Texas to Ohio and not only what I remember, but how I remember it. In an early chapter, Browning stretches across the bed listening to his partner Gene as he shovels snow outside their Brooklyn home. He follows the sunlight as it falls on a small rug hanging on the wall, and he de-

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JOURNEYS TOWARD

A SEXUAL SELF

FRANK BROWNING author of THE CUL generally "Where are you from?" or "Where do you live?” We are a culture obsessed with place, questioning our relationship to our hometown, or defining state lines, city limits, or the boundaries between "us" and "them."

Frank Browning focuses on the meaning of place in his newest book, A Queer Geography. He connects issues of gay male identity into an American context, showing, for example how being gay in this country is connected to the American value of individualism. Being gay directly connects to being American, as Browning shows when he discusses "gay" behaviors and practices in countries as diverse as Italy and New Guinea.

Browning fuses academic theory with personal experience throughout this book. For example, in one chapter he begins with the work of the Michel Foucault, the French philosopher whose work has been

Frank Browning

scribes where the rug has been and how it fits into his life and history. The day after reading this, I stretch across the bed while my partner Gary carries laundry down the stairs, and I glance around the room at my life and his.

There is a lot of writing around that look at an individual's existence and place in culture. Browning's newest book becomes one of the most thought-provoking additions to that discussion.

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