Edmund White, arguably the preeminent gay American writer, has documented the rise of gay consciousness since the 1950s. In 1976 he plucked his 16 year old heterosexual nephew from a Chicago family whose mother was in and out of hospitals for depression, and whose father’s way of handling adolescent angst was to put his son in a mental institution.
So Edmund White brought his nephew to live with him in disco-era gay New York, pre-AIDS. This may sound like a family-values nightmare, but Keith Fleming found in his uncle the first parental-figure he could trust and a happy home life he’d never had before. His uncle taught him to read Stendahl, and to dress Armani, and he paid big bucks to get his acne cleared up. Years ago, Edmund White told the story of uncle and nephew in his book The Farewell Symphony. In a new memoir, the nephew now turns the pen on his uncle.
(Hosted by Christophr Lydon)
Guests:
Keith Fleming, nephew of Edmund White and author of The Boy With the Thorn in His Side, and Edmund White.