Arts and Letters

by Edmund White

A dazzling collection of profiles and interviews by the preeminent American cultural essayist of our time.
In these 39 lively essays and profiles, best-selling novelist and biographer Edmund White draws on his wide reading and his sly good humor to illuminate some of the most influential writers, artists, and cultural icons of the past century: among them, Marcel Proust, Catherine Deneuve, George Eliot, Andy Warhol, André Gide, David Geffen, and Robert Mapplethorpe. Whether he’s praising Nabokov’s sensuality, or critiquing Elton John’s walk (“as though he’s a wind-up doll that’s been overwound and sent heading for the top of the stairs”), or describing serendipitous moments in his seven-year-long research into the life of Genet, White is unfailingly observant, erudite, and entertaining.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Queer, LGBT, History

376 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2004

About the author

Edmund Valentine White III was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. He was the recipient of Lambda Literary's Visionary Award, the National Book Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction. France made him Chevalier (and later Officier) de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1993.
White was known as a groundbreaking writer of gay literature and a major influence on gay American literature and has been called "the first major queer novelist to champion a new generation of writers."

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edmund White is a great essayist - and these series of essays or articles are fantastic. An good essayist should make you feel that you are having a drink with them - excpet this is happening on the page. Strange enough I have never read his fiction. His biography on Genet is also incredible.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brimming with insights on writers and artists, White gives us profiles of those he knew and those whom he respects. Some of his conclusions made parenthetical are questionable, but his judgments are made from a passionate reader's emgagement.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable. Very interesting book!

[Joan Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

. A series of essays on mainly gay writers, artists and personalities. White covers how in the past gay writers masked their characters by transforming gay men into heterosexual couples. His insights are always penetrating

[Vivencio · Rating 5 out of 5]

don't normally buy books at full price, but this one's worth every cent paid. not as extensive as 'the burning library' but every piece is a litcrit gem.

[Avis Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main problem with this book of essays is that White likes to write about people who have much better press than they have talent.