On Literary Divadom

I had not encountered this Salon essay, “Didion as Diva”–It is from 1997! When the internet was written on cave walls with sticks and a paste of crushed berries and ash, or so I’ve been told!–until I came across it researching something else. But I think some of the points still have merit. (Perhaps I’m viewing it through the oversize, dark sunglasses of an Didion admirer?)

Though, if the idea of a literary diva still holds up, and since the word and its embodying attitude has not left the lexicon yet in relation to pop icons adored by the gays, however troubling (see: Gaga, Lady) then who might be our reigning divas of letters in a slight update of this premise?   Remember:   “The opera diva’s performance is immediate — and immediately gratifying — but the literary diva must create in solitude, then wait many agonizing months, sometimes years, for her voice to reach its audience through publication. This time lag places her at still greater remove from her followers, which only adds to her mystery.”

So then: Mary Gaitskill? Mary Karr? Lydia Davis? Or does it now fall on the likes of a Candace Bushnell or even an Amy Sohn?  Before you answer, maybe refer back to author Bill Hayes’ conclusion upon seeing Ms. Didion speak in the flesh:  “the literary diva exists only on the page. In person, this diva is unremarkable, forgetful of her lines, absent of herself. She is the antithesis of the legendary showbiz or opera divas, like Monroe or Callas or Garland, who had to be seen in the flesh or on-screen to be experienced, and who are reduced to ordinary humanity with the written word.”

This Thing So Does NOT Look Like That Thing: Club 57

[Left:  a photo of some of the arty gadabouts of the original Club 57, an East Village hangout, performance space and party spot hosted by performance art den mother Ann Magnuson, which featured acts like John Sex, Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias, and art shows by Kenny Scharf and Keith Haring.  Right:  a new three floor Hell's Kitchen dance party that features "Hot gogo boys everywhere and tons of surprises."]

PM Gordon Brown Offers Posthumous ‘Oops, Sorry’ to Alan Turig

Too little too late, obvs, but it’s a good thing that PM Gordon Brown has finally gotten around to saying sorry to father of computer science Alan Turig, for whom it was okay to be openly gay while breaking codes for British Intelligence during the Dub-Dub-Deuce, but then when the war ended was convicted of “gross indecency” and forced to undergo chemical castration.  The homo shame that created led him to take his own life two years later.  “I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for happened to him,” wrote Brown in his public apology in the Telegraph. “Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted, under homophobic laws, were treated terribly.”  Ya think?!  [io9]

Divisive Drag Performer Hangs Up Wig

Well, according to Lady Bunny, controversial drag performer Shirley Q. Liquor has retired her, uh, umber pancake make-up and mumus to concentrate on being full-time nurse.  Health care reform?

Home Improvement Store Actually a Gay Training Camp

I suppose, when presented with the facts,  it is a sort of “duh” moment of clarity, that the primrose path to a homosexual lifestyle for your children could very well begin in the dank, wide aisles of your local Home Depot.  Perhaps you drag little Jimmy and Sally with you to pick up fertilizer or a new bird house, and to occupy them while you try to find a sales associate who is not on a lunch break or just outright hostile, you gladly leave the kids to do a craft workshop provided by the store. The next thing you know, Jimmy’s hiding Dwell magazines under his mattress, and Sally is asking for a DeWalt power drill for her birthday.  And then there’s the sodomy!  Thank goodness the righteous watchdogs are out there, sniffing out those that would leave a bread crumb trail to sin starting in the window treatment aisle:

Home Depot is helping to introduce children to the homosexual lifestyle. The Nashville Gay Pride website notes that Home Depot contributed more than $5,000 to help finance the 2009 festival. The retailer also participated by conducting children’s craft workshops at a special booth set up for them. The company has sponsored similar children’s venues at pro-homosexual events in Atlanta, Kansas City, Durham, Portland, and San Diego. Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel tells OneNewsNow the home improvement store is facilitating the exposure of children to sinful behavior.

Clutch.  The.  Pearls.

OneNewsNow[via Joe. My. God]