Categorie: books
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McDermott&McGough
Although younger for several years, Steven was the first to introduce me to gay nightlife. I vaguely recall a Saturday evening when my mother suggested I join Steven for an evening out. Why not? We drove to a small gay nightclub in Gent. I remember we had to go down the stairs, and in that…
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David Bowie: Lector in fabula
David Bowie spans a career of almost 60 years. There is more than one Bowie. He is different artists, personalities, and avatars. I love books, booklovers, bookshops, and publishers. Editions La Baconnière is a small Geneva editor. At Art Geneva, I discovered their offer. My eye fell on “David Bowie: Lector in fabula”, by Yann…
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ti amo (about the first sentence)
Each book has a first sentence, a first paragraph, and a first page. That first can make all the difference. Some books had an ever-lasting impact on me just because of the first words. I wrote earlier that I was blown away Andrew Sean Greer’s “Portrait of a Marriage”, especially the opening. I love you.…
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The Power of the Dog left me speechless
I watched The Power of the Dog, not really knowing what I was seeing. A paper flower put to fire, the relentless time it takes to tie a rope, two adult brothers still sleeping together in their childhood bedroom, … But director Jane Campion made the images so beautiful you are glued to the screen.…
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coming out, now and then
I have been gay all my life. Don’t recall the exact time when I realised I felt more attracted to men but I guess I must have been twelve or thirteen. I came out when I was nineteen. My mother was very supportive, and so was everybody else. Friends and family, and later my colleagues…
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gay love stories so often end badly
One of the books that had a big impact on me as a young man and on my sexual identity was “Maurice”, written by E.M. Foster, only published after his death in 1971. Ivory Merchant turned it in a beautiful film, that was re-released in 2017 to celebrate its 30th birthday. It tells the love…
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dear reader, according to Cathy Rentzenbrink
Reading has saved my life, again and again, and has held my hand through every difficult time … I pick up and smell them before I even buy books. At home I have a separate shelf for ‘books about books’. And unless the smell of the books merge with the smell of me, my home…
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another history of art
I have an art historian at home. Full time. For more than 20 years already. Whenever I mention something art related – Rothko, rococo, Jean-François Millet, the Sixteen Chapel, …. you name it – I get context. When we travel – and we love travelling – Filip is my private guide. That is very, very…
JEAN PHILIP DE TENDER 