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[27.9.05] [Andrew Gallix]
BRUCE BENDERSON: WHERE LIBIDO RAN WILD
 Bruce Benderson on "dick-chasing literature":
"So what's left to write about when it comes to literature and gay bars? Not a fucking thing. What's there to write about an endless throng of white faggots with gym bodies and shaved balls wearing tight tee shirts and dancing to mindless house music on Ecstasy? Not anything I can think of. Unless I've missed something, there hasn't been one good book about fags and their bars for quite a few years now. That's a major break with tradition, since in generations past some of the best American literature was written by horny faggots and their search for dick in New York's bars. Perhaps you're familiar with some of that classic dick-chasing literature to which I'm referring. In the 1950s, William Burroughs wrote about the search for dick in his groundbreaking novel Queer, and in the early 60s John Rechy's novel City of Night followed a hot, alienated hustler through the streets, beds and bars of Times Square and the rest of the country.
I think we're getting to a theory here. When cock-sucking and ass-fucking were illegal activities, writers who couldn't get enough dick put themselves through all kinds of risks and dangers. So what they wrote about was inspired. Those were the days when gay bars could get raided. But when they didn't, they had good Mafia management who created a place where libido could run wild. Don't believe the hype about the infamous Stonewall bar being an oppressive place where sad homosexuals had to hide from police oppression and where Mafia bosses exploited their desperation. Any illegal bar run by the Mafia always has the hottest, most inspiring atmosphere. And excitement, risk and underground activity are what makes the best writing. The Mafia may have created a lot of heartache in our cities, but we owe them a debt for having created such good illicit bars, which were at the basis of a lot of good American literature."
Read the full article here.
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