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New York Diaries, 1983-1994
From the renowned novelist and critic, an exquisite collection of journal entries from the 1980s and '90s, tracking a young, gay author's literary coming-of-age in New York during the AIDS crisis.
In 1983, Thomas Mallon was still unknown. A literature professor at Vassar College, he spent his days traveling from Manhattan to campus, reviewing books to make ends meet and searching the city for his own purpose and fulfillment. The AIDS epidemic was beginning to surge in New York City, the ever-bustling epicenter of literary culture and gay life, alive with parties, art, and sex.
Though he didn't know it, everything would soon change for Mallon. Riding the success of his debut, A Book of One's Own, he became a fixture within the city's literary scene, crossing paths with cultural giants and becoming an editor at GQ. He captured it all in his daily journals. But in some ways it was the worst possible time for a gay coming-of-age in the city. One of his lovers succumbed to AIDS, and the illness of others was both a heartbreaking reality and a constant reminder of his own exposure.
Tracing his own life day by day, Mallon evokes all that those years encompassed: the hookups, intensifying politics, personal tragedies, as well as his own blossoming success and eventual romantic happiness. The Very Heart of It is a brilliant and bewitching look into the daily life of one of our most important literary figures, and a keepsake from a bygone era.
"Moving [and] bittersweet ... . The many human moments (funny, sad, witty, horrible, and beautiful) populating Mallon's diaries collectively (and vicariously) illuminate a supremely resilient community that soldiered on (and kept dancing) despite insurmountable loss and pain. An exquisitely evocative glimpse into an unparalleled era in queer history steeped in joy, sex, and death." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Compulsively browsable ... . Mallon's diaries paint an arresting panorama of Reagan-era New York City, full of droll character studies ... . [Mallon's] prose conveys deep emotion with clear-eyed, matter-of-fact detail. It amounts to an engrossing evocation of an artist and a city in transition." —Publisher's Weekly
This information about The Very Heart of It was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
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Photo: William Bodenschatz
Thomas Mallon is the author of a number of novels including Henry and Clara, DeweyDefeats Truman, Two Moons; In Fact and Bandbox, a collection of essays; and the nonfiction books Stolen Words, A Book of One's Own, and Mrs. Paine's Garage. A frequent contributor to The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and other magazines, and the Director of the Creative Writing Program at George Washington University, he lives in Washington, D.C.
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