A Gay Diary: 1933-1946

by Donald Vining

The stirring chronicle of one man's remarkable life. Covering the years 1933-1946, Donald Vining's Diary portrays a long-vanished age and the lifestyle of a gay generation all too frequently forgotten. A touching and revealing volume documenting the surprisingly vibrant culture that existed decades before Stonewall, A Gay Diary is not to be missed by anyone interested in gay American history.

Genres: Queer, History, Gay, Biography Memoir, LGBT

592 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1979

Reviews

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable personal record, but even more crucially, indispensable documentation of the lives of gay men in the pre-Stonewall era. An aspiring playwright and short story writer, Vining's diaries—of which this was the first of five massive volumes that were eventually published—benefit immeasurably from his eye for sharp, vivid details, as well as an almost journalistic style and sensibility (ever a harsh self-critic, in the short introduction he wrongly dismisses his writing as "often poor"). What a pleasure and privilege to receive such intimate access to a person's life, and especially so when it's as interesting as Vining's. I'm not quite ready to commit to another year-long reading project yet, but I'll definitely be continuing on to the next volume at some point in the future.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This may be of sociological interest as a rare document of how a gay man lived in America in the 30s and 40s, but as general non-fiction reading, it's tedious. This nearly 600 page book covers roughly thirteen years in Vining's life, from the age of 13 to his mid-20s. He states in an introduction that he made diary entries every day but has winnowed the entries down for publication (my rough count came up some 120 for 1943, and that seemed about average), but for a general reader, this could have been trimmed down a lot more, to maybe 250 pages.

It seems like his young life had three distinct phases: his life as a teenager with his mother, his days at college and at Yale School of Drama, and when he moved to New York City and got caught up in the city's gay life. As a youth, he was interested in literature and theater, and though he did not become a public figure (until the publication of his diaries), he did aspire to be a playwright and actually had some success, but poverty hindered his attempts in his profession. When he gets to New York (late 1942), his diary becomes largely a record of his dates, friendships, cruising experiences and longish-term romantic relationships. The book becomes moderately more interesting at this point, not because it becomes sexually explicit--it never really does--but because we shift from seeing the mundane life of a young working-class man in the big city, something that memoirs and fiction were full of, to the equally mundane life of a working-class out gay man, something that was mostly hidden from popular culture or literature.

But, damn, this book is boring to read, just as a published diary of mine would be boring to read. I'm not being critical of Vining as a person, but of Vining as an editor. This could have been trimmed down to 250 pages and been a much more interesting reading experience, and still have presented a good panorama of a gay life in the 1940s. By the last 200 pages, he is mixed up with so many men that I couldn't keep most of them straight (no pun intended); few are differentiated with memorable details. Vining says he deliberately did not rewrite anything, which is fine, and he mostly refrains from offering context or explanation, which is not so fine. It's very often unclear who he's friends with, who he's sleeping with, and who he's leading on with no intention of getting physical with. I appreciate his candor about his reasons for the life choices he makes, but again, cutting more than half of this material and adding more context notes would have made me feel less stranded in his story. The single most interesting insight he presents about himself, about halfway through: "I wish the puritan and the pagan within me would stop struggling and one or the other be victorious." I may have missed other choice quotes because I was skimming so much of the book.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of gay life of the period, great insights. Really enjoyed the discussion of being anti-war during WWII and the various jobs he held during the period. Also plenty of gay drama to provide a bit of levity to the whole thing. Really get a sense of Donald Vinings personality.