APRIL 18, 1997 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

BOOKS

Trilogy reaffirms David Leavitt's place in gay writing

Arkansas

Three Novellas by David Leavitt Houghton Mifflin, $23.00 hardcover

Reviewed by Nels P. Highberg

David Leavitt has become the focus of controversy once again. Leavitt's last novel, While England Sleeps, faced a lawsuit when an English poet sued Leavitt, claiming that

David Leavitt

the book was based on an episode from the poet's life, and not Leavitt's imagination.

One of his newest stories, "The Term Paper Artist," has now entered the spotlight. It was set to be excerpted in the April issue of Esquire until editors pulled the story just before going to press. Accounts of their reasoning vary. Some suggest that it was withdrawn as a result of homophobic pressure from advertiser Chrysler because of the story's overt sexual content. Editors contend that their action was merely an "editorial decision."

This story is one of three in Leavitt's newest book, Arkansas: Three Novellas, and

it's easy to see why the story claims such attention. Each story is charged with erotic intensity, intensity that may come as a surprise to those who have accused Leavitt or his work of sex-phobia in the past. Throughout the book, characters interact in situations rife with sexual intensity.

In "The Term Paper Artist," the main character, a writer named David Leavitt, finds an unusual way to resolve his writer's block. The title's allusion to the phrase "The Pick-Up Artist" reflects David's ability to pick up his share of distinctive sexual encounters.

JERRY BAUER.

་་

David spends weeks in the UCLA library conducting research for his new novel. Still, he never writes anything. A happenstance encounter with an undergraduate, Eric, turns into the inspiration he needs. David finds a new career writing term papers for a few "straight" male students in exchange for sex, and feels that he is completing the best work of his life. These activities last for about two quarters or so until he meets a Mormon student who forces him to reflect on what has been happening.

The character of David in the story bears a purposeful resemblance to David the author, and this becomes one of the story's most interesting aspects. Leavitt has David say near the end of the narrative, "Writers often disguise their lives as fiction. The thing they almost never do is disguise fiction as their lives."

Leavitt writes this story to complete this last idea. At least, that's what we're supposed to think, isn't it? It's the potential for reality that makes the story the most alluring and sexy of the three.

"The Wooden Anniversary" revisits the characters of Celia and Nathan from Leavitt's earlier book A Place I've Never Been. Celia has married a new man, Seth, and also started her own small cooking school in Tuscany, the story's setting. Mauro holds a position at the school as a chef. Nathan has recently lost his lover. Finally, Lizzie, the narrator, relates

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the awkward interactions and seductive couplings between these characters as they develop. The story includes twists and shifts that shock at the same time as they fit into the logic the narrative has been developing all along, without the reader fully catching on.

"Saturn Street" rounds out the trilogy with Jerry Roth, another writer who is not writing, as he volunteers to deliver hot meals to people with AIDS. His daily trips remain largely uneventful until his route shifts and he meets Phil, a bearish carpenter who sits in his darkened apartment watching old science fiction movies and episodes of Star Trek.

Jerry, whose lover recently committed suicide, feels drawn to Phil. He slowly be-

gins to break out of the shell he's built around himself, and their relationship progresses at a somewhat lethargic pace even as Jerry remains concerned about growing too close. The story questions the roles relationships play in people's lives while maintaining its focus on Jerry's feelings and situation.

Leavitt's collection comes as a surprise, commenting on connection and loss and the place of these so-called "universal" themes amidst contemporary concerns and dilemmas. His works encompasses more variety with each new book, which continuously reaffirms Leavitt's place as one of the more compelling gay writers today.

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