Garments the Living Wear

by James Purdy

James Purdy’s new novel, Garments the Living Wear, is a vision of evil and dark salvation peopled with bizarre and memorable characters. Satirizing life in New York City in the 1980s, its themes include the scourge of AIDS, criminal conspiracies, the excesses of the superrich, modern evangelism, and love in its many forms.

Genres: Roman

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

James Otis Purdy was an American novelist, short-story writer, poet, and playwright who, from his debut in 1956, published over a dozen novels, and many collections of poetry, short stories, and plays. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages and in 2013 his short stories were collected in The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy.
He has been praised by writers as diverse as Edward Albee, James M. Cain, Lillian Hellman, Francis King, Marianne Moore, Dorothy Parker, Dame Edith Sitwell, Terry Southern, Gore Vidal (who described Purdy as "an authentic American genius"), Jonathan Franzen (who called him, in Farther Away, "one of the most undervalued and underread writers in America"), A.N. Wilson, and both Jane Bowles and Paul Bowles.
Purdy was the recipient of the Morton Dauwen Zabel Fiction Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1993) and was nominated for the 1985 PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel On Glory's Course (1984). In addition, he won two Guggenheim Fellowships (1958 and 1962), and grants from the Ford Foundation (1961), and Rockefeller Foundation.
He worked as an interpreter, and lectured in Europe with the United States Information Agency.

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one kinda missed the mark.

A story about thespians in NYC and AIDS.

It had that generalized, almost fable-like quality that i coming to realize is part of Purdy’s style. It almost feels like I’m reading the Bible, or a Greek myth.

But the characters are somewhat flat. And the story isn’t salacious enough.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not my first Purdy, which was Narrow Rooms, but it has been almost 10 years since I read that book. I had forgotten Purdy's comedic send-up to gothic style, and it's funny to see stretches of it here. In fact, the book's amorphous blend of satire, gothic style, and focus on New York during the HIV/AIDS epidemic made for an energizing read.

Also of interest is Purdy's inclusion of trans identity. It is hard to say if Purdy viewed trans identity in the same way that left-of-center LGBTQ folks do now. On the one hand, all of the characters refer to the trans character (Estrellita) with her preferred pronouns. On the other, Estrellita is swept up into the same erotic hurricane that Purdy is known for, and Purdy doesn't shy away from describing her body in sexual terms, which may be off-putting to trans or left-leaning readers who are weary of seeing trans bodies in pornographic settings.

I started to enjoy the reading experience less as I found myself wondering how Purdy felt about his characters. For as much as the novel can be considered satire, I think Purdy is so enamoured with his characters that he can't quite let them "lose"--which is kind of odd, since NYC in the HIV/AIDS epidemic is characterized largely by its sense of loss. That's not to say that the novel is exclusively joyous either: character's cheat, get mad at each other, cheat again, and seemingly make-up all the span of a chapter.

Overall, I still recommend reading this novel. It's strangeness has me seeking out other Purdy novels. I've acquired copies of In a Shallow Grave and Cabot Wright Begins.

[Dan]

I have read this little novel 4 or 5 times-- a strange tale of life in NYC during the early part of the AIDS crisis, when people were still in denial about what was going on.
It is written in a very extravagant prose style that heightens the irony of living in the richest city in the world without the means to stop the crisis from escalating. There is a rich doyenne of the arts, Peg Strawbridge, who is friends with budding young gay thespians who get "the Pest," as it is called, and begin to die. A strange demonic figure from Cuba arrives in the city with his girlfriend Estralitta who is not what she first appears. Soon the rich Cuban (a sort of Nosferatu) has gotten the young thespians to become his proteges and organizes unruly marches to City Hall to protest the ravages of the Plague. The Day of the Locust comes to mind. It is a very puzzling book but a very great novel. I met Purdy at a reading and have a copy inscribed to me....He died a few years ago--I was amazed to find that we both had the same birthday...

[Jessica L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was just so odd. The writing style was confusing, the characters were flat and underdeveloped, the setting was generalized, and I know I will forget about this book.

[José Van Rosmalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek speelt in de jaren tachtig van de twintigste eeuw in New York tegen de achtergrond van de opkomende aids-epidemie. Hoofdpersonen zijn de oude filantroop Hennings, zijn vriendin Peg Sawbridge, zijn vrouw Estrelita en enkele jonge homoseksuele mannen. Het boek gaat over rijkdom en decadentie en over de dreigende ondergang door de fatale ziekte. Het is een nogal apart boek dat wel blijft boeien.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest novels I've ever read, a scathing, heartbreaking, mythopoetic story of the New York 80s and the terror of AIDS ("the Pest"). This book was a revelation.