From 'youth and beauty' to 'age and decrepitude': Age, ageing, and ageism in American gay fiction

Abstract

The paper deals with the treatment of age-related issues in American gay literature, focusing on Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man (1964) and Andrew Holleran's Dancer from the Dance (1978) and The Beauty of Men (1996). Even though Holleran's The Beauty of Men is inspired by A Single Man, there is a major difference between the two authors: while the protagonist of Isherwood's novel is isolated from other gay men, Holleran's protagonists in many ways interact with gays of other generations. A line of mentor-protege relationships can be identified in Dancer from the Dance, while the characters of The Beauty of Men replace the vertical line of relationships with a horizontal network of peers, losing some of the opportunities offered by intergenerational interaction.