The married man the narrator meets on the beach, which tries for a more fulfilling connection than just the blatant and brief gratification of the sexual encounter. That inevitable, demanding master that taunts each character with delightful, moon-filled promises only to burn away illusion and reveal each of their own harsh truths in daylight. Of course there are the men looking for love in this dark maelstrom world. Lance O’Hara was once a Hollywood star, beautiful in appearance and scorned by the one man he loves but can’t obtain. Skipper is the former lover of a famous Hollywood director, searching to recapture the comfortable position he once enjoyed. But this after-dark world that Rechy has exposed is not just an endless procession of seedy world inhabitants. And of course there is the absurdly funny and tragic “Mom,” a man who enjoys picking up men, taking them home and cooking for them as if they were his own children, before collecting his money’s worth for their services. Or Sargent Morgan a police officer that relishes in arresting the men in Pershing Square, but secretly delights in taking advantage of those he arrests. There are the Queens like Miss Destiny (a true-life character) that is over the top and constantly planning a ‘fabulous wedding’ with a new husband. In Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Mardi Gras of New Orleans, his hustling introduces him to an assortment of people, all seething with the desperation of an endless searching for something else-an unfulfilled, never-ending longing. He is ‘employed’ by a bedridden Professor who collects memories and pictures of his boy ‘Angels.’ He meets Peter, another street hustler who helps introduce him to perspective scores, and teaches him the rules of street-hustling survival.Īs if a darker version of the Everyman protagonist from The Pilgrim’s Progress, the nameless hero explores homosexual America, learning about the world as much as about his own self in the process. King who makes his proposal brief and to the point: “I’ll give you $10, and I don’t give a damn about you,” setting the tone for ‘Young Man’s’ New York (if not life) experience. The protagonist is first approached by Mr.
#City of night book movie
Along the streets or in darkened movie houses, he meets an endless turnstile of men all seeking out the one thing denied them, sexual exploration of another man. The young man’s journey takes him from the small Texan town to the animalistic prowling of New York City’s Time Square. To be queer was to be labeled effeminate or not a real man, and reason enough for being loathed a hustler needed to be manly in order to be desired.
According to the rules of the street, a hustler must always be the ideal fantasy of masculinity any queer traits would banish the illusion. While the nameless protagonist sells himself to men, he keeps up the appearance of being seduced by women-a common trait by the ‘hustler’s world’ standards to invoke an aura of masculinity around themselves, and thus create a more intense desirability to their ‘scores’. At the center is a young Texan boy of Mexican heritage that sets out into the world with the one major character trait that is as much a blessing as a boon his undisputable sex appeal. Honestly and liberally autobiographical, City of Night tells the story of one man’s search for friendship, love, and an understanding of himself. But the book itself is a remarkable account of a man’s self-discovery. At a time when the word ‘homosexual’ was barely whispered and rarely put into print (except for the medical journals branding it a mental illness), City of Night did as much for exposing the gay world it describes, as shocking its participants back one analyzing step. First published in 1963 the novel tells of the dark underbelly of the gay world, filled with hustlers, johns, drag queens, leather men, and every type in between. City of Night is one of those novels that made Gay Literature history.
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