manwithanagenda's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I discovered Wescott in college. As an early openly gay man who had considerable success in his day, he intrigued me. He died shortly after I was born, but his last novel was published in 1945. I've reread his books, and have thought much about them, but I know there are depths that I haven't even begun to perceive.
In the course of researching and seeking out as much information on Wescott as I could get, he became something of a totem for me - a representation of all those men and women who lived in defiance of their age by living as themselves. Reading so many stories of homosexuals living out their lives half in shadow, and many talented careers ruined through public scandal, made the touching story of his 60+ years with Monroe Wheeler a comfort too, sentimental as I am.
I've owned this book for a few years now, putting it off until I could locate more of his work, not an easy task considering my reluctance to order through online channels. The scarcity of most of his work is one of the more frustrating aspects of this biography.
In writing this Roscoe seems to have had unrestricted access to the author's papers and quotes extensively interviews and anecdotes obtained from Wescott's contemporaries. He makes numerous references to Wescott's poetry, out of print for 90 years in some cases, with only one piece quoted in its entirety, and fewer than a half-dozen had more than their titles quoted.
Roscoe is an enthusiastic biographer, but much of the book reads like antique society columns and some of the scenes Rosco recreates are almost fully repeated from chapter to chapter. The saving grace here are the long biographical anecdotes from Wescott himself, Wheeler, or others that are printed in full. Wescott is full of vivid humor and writes with a high style that is at once ornate and precise. If only he had written this himself!
Wescott's career in fiction is finished before the book is half done, but his work with Alfred Kinsey is more extensive than I ever suspected and I read about his work as an essayist and lecturer with interest. Would it have been so impossible to add a bibliographical appendix to the book?
'Personally' is the key word in the title of this biography, because it does leave a reader with a clear picture of Glenway Wescott as a personality, but it leaves much to be desired for someone looking for a more rigorous examination of Wescott as an artist. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, but I can't help but feel there's a great deal missing.
In the course of researching and seeking out as much information on Wescott as I could get, he became something of a totem for me - a representation of all those men and women who lived in defiance of their age by living as themselves. Reading so many stories of homosexuals living out their lives half in shadow, and many talented careers ruined through public scandal, made the touching story of his 60+ years with Monroe Wheeler a comfort too, sentimental as I am.
I've owned this book for a few years now, putting it off until I could locate more of his work, not an easy task considering my reluctance to order through online channels. The scarcity of most of his work is one of the more frustrating aspects of this biography.
In writing this Roscoe seems to have had unrestricted access to the author's papers and quotes extensively interviews and anecdotes obtained from Wescott's contemporaries. He makes numerous references to Wescott's poetry, out of print for 90 years in some cases, with only one piece quoted in its entirety, and fewer than a half-dozen had more than their titles quoted.
Roscoe is an enthusiastic biographer, but much of the book reads like antique society columns and some of the scenes Rosco recreates are almost fully repeated from chapter to chapter. The saving grace here are the long biographical anecdotes from Wescott himself, Wheeler, or others that are printed in full. Wescott is full of vivid humor and writes with a high style that is at once ornate and precise. If only he had written this himself!
Wescott's career in fiction is finished before the book is half done, but his work with Alfred Kinsey is more extensive than I ever suspected and I read about his work as an essayist and lecturer with interest. Would it have been so impossible to add a bibliographical appendix to the book?
'Personally' is the key word in the title of this biography, because it does leave a reader with a clear picture of Glenway Wescott as a personality, but it leaves much to be desired for someone looking for a more rigorous examination of Wescott as an artist. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, but I can't help but feel there's a great deal missing.
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