The Lost Language Of Cranes

Set in the 1980s against the backdrop of a swiftly gentrifying Manhattan, The Lost Language of Cranes tells the story of twenty-five-year-old Philip Benjamin, who realizes he must come out to his parents after falling in love for the first time with a man. Philip's parents are facing their own problems: pressure from developers and the loss of their longtime home. But the real threat to the family is Philip's father's own struggle with his suppressed homosexuality, realized only in Sunday afternoon visits to gay porn theaters. Philip's revelation to his parents leads his father to a point of crisis and provokes changes that forever alter the landscape of the family's lives.

In gay men's writing, tenderness lies side by side with rage; existential rejection of convention rubs shoulders with sexual hedonism. Beginning with Wilde's and Byron's existentialist outlaw, the theme of social rebellion, and the fight against conformity, form a common link among the literary works of the twentieth century. But mainstream academic criticism has shown itself for the most part incapable of engaging gay work without distorting or ignoring its most central features.

For Cooley the cranes are something beyond curiosity, perhaps familiar, yet inexplicable. To learn about the cranes, she went to the International Crane Fdn. in Wisconsin (the only place where all 15 species exist). There she walked among them and interacted with them. For 60 million years, cranes have flown over practically every continent. They can fly at altitudes of up to 30,000 ft. and can migrate over 5,000 miles. This book shares the magnificence of these creatures and helps their survival. For each species of crane, Cooley offers a page of poetic description accompanied by a watercolor illustration. A beautiful work of art with a gorgeous slipcase.

'One of his generation's most gifted writers.' New York Times 'An amazingly perceptive novel.' San Francisco Chronicle 'Fascinating... lingers in the mind' New York Times Book Review Owen and Rose are facing serious challenges to their married life of routine and monotony as New York City grows and changes around them. They spend most Sundays apart; while Rose buries herself in crosswords and newspapers, Owen visits gay porn theaters. But when they discover they may lose their apartment and their son, prompted by his new relationship, reveals his homosexuality, their lives cannot continue as they were. Owen and Rose are forced to confront not only their son's revelation but also Owen's latent homosexuality. Poignant and lingering, this is a tale of love and relationships, secrets and unspoken desires.

The story of Philip Benjamin, a young man haunted by images of his staid, middle-class parents and frightened by the thought of revealing his homosexual identity to them

How would you react if your son told you he was gay? Out of the Twilight: Fathers of Gay Men Speak explores how fathers have dealt with discovering that their sons were gay and what effect it had on their own development as parents and people. This revealing, moving book will help you understand the difficulties and joys of a father/gay son relationship. Out of the Twilight draws from literary sources such as poems, fairy tales, plays, novels, and movies, as well as psychoanalytic theories, to highlight the obstacles that a father must overcome to understand and identify with his son. In Out of the Twilight, you will discover the personal and intimate struggles of these fathers, including: Mitchell, whose son, Jay, came out at the age of twenty-one, and who describes the coming-out process as a means of forging a closer father-son relationship Juan Miguel, who knew and accepted that his son was gay before his son told him, and who discusses how his love and complete acceptance made the coming-out process easier for his son Peter, whose response to his son, Richard, was ordering him to live at home so the family could look for a 'cure’for Richard's homosexuality Daniel, who admitted that he himself was gay after being married and who was very accepting when his son, Charles, came out since it provided them with a special bond Marty, whose response to his son Gary's coming out was to join P-FLAG, an organization for parents of gay and lesbian children, so he could find support and acceptance among other parents who were going through the same thing Out of the Twilight allows you to see how fathers have struggled with the truth about their sons' sexuality. This book presents a unique opportunity to develop a greater awareness of and appreciation for father/son similarities and differences, and suggests that through time, communication, and love, fathers can become comfortable with and respectful of their sons' homosexuality.

The great bulk of work on gender in fiction and literature has reflected feminist concerns and focused on women authors. This book attempts to extend the contemporary preoccupation with representations of gender into the terrain of masculinity and male writing. Drawing on work in both the social sciences and humanities, it explores the narrative representation of masculinity in selected twentieth-century fictions ranging from classic texts by Lawrence and Conrad to novels by John Fowles, Graham Swift, David Leavitt and others.

Television provides a unique account of the development of a homosexual identity across the western world, emerging as it did when ideas around sex and sexuality were themselves only just beginning to be publicly discussed. From the very earliest surviving drama featuring homosexuality in 1959, Homosexuality on the Small Screen explores each decade's programming in turn, looking at homosexual themes, storylines, and characters, situating them historically, and relating them to the broader events in British history. By doing so it examines the interactions between the medium and the reality of gay lives, showing how television mirrored the changes taking place in British society. For those with a homosexual - or emerging homosexual - sexual orientation, they were seminal in early personal and social development. For heterosexual viewers, these images were equally important in exploring a sexual other which otherwise remained hidden from them. They included positive storylines which helped improve public ideas about homosexuality, but also stereotypical images which propagated negative attitudes in the public consciousness. Homosexuality on the Small Screen charts this fascinating journey and television's role in the construction of a gay identity.