Midlife Queer: Autobiography of a Decade, 1971-1981

by Martin Duberman

With searing self-appraisal and a keen sense of the world around him, acclaimed writer and gay activist Martin Duberman examines a wide range of issues in his personal and professional life and in the politics of the time from 1971 to 1981—from the early years of gay liberation to the first public reports of AIDS.
    Duberman moves from the internecine battles in the academic world and within the budding gay rights movement to his own heart attack, sexual and romantic adventures, and search for fulfillment through new therapies and the world of theater. Peppered with gossip, wit, and tart observations of the New York theater and literary worlds, Midlife Queer stands as both a fascinating memoir and a record of an era.

Genres: LGBT, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Martin Bauml Duberman is a scholar and playwright. He graduated from Yale in 1952 and earned a Ph.D. in American history from Harvard in 1957. Duberman left his tenured position at Princeton University in 1971 to become Distinguished Professor of History at Lehman College in New York City.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Duberman’s “Midlife Queer” is a memoir about his middle age when he actively engaged with gay politics, tried to resuscitate his playwriting career, experimented with alternative therapies, and suffered a heart attack. The strongest portion of his book is the section involving his heart malady. This section feels more like a short story dealing with medical inequities between social classes and homophobia in medicine. Duberman recalls his roommate Grabinski, a gay man who in his political apathy and class resentments is a foil to Duberman. Both their conflicts and sympathy for each other allow Duberman to be far more relatable than in the other portions of the book.
Duberman’s memoir tests the theory of having to like the author of a book in this genre to find it satisfying. Although I share many of the same political goals as Duberman, I would also find him exasperating and difficult if I had to deal with him in real life. His belligerence and intractability though make him a great narrator and protagonist; you may dislike him but you won’t find him boring.



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[Virgowriter (Brad Windhauser) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes a lot of overlooked or ignored queer history from this decade, but some bloated prose at times. Not poorly written, just lot of details that could be trimmed. Author is a historian, after all :)

[Mattilda]

Somehow it's this book that really showed me how the 1970s was a retreat from the radicalism of the '60s -- hello Nixon, right? But it’s so tempting, from the distance of a generation, to see the 1970s as a decade of nonstop radicalism. In Midlife Queer, Duberman gives us a critique of gay assimilation from the inside -- like his role on the board of the National Gay Task Force (later National Gay Lesbian Task Force). Sometimes the book can get a big grand, especially when Duberman is critiquing the New York theater world. My favorite part is when he explores various 1970s modes of therapy in attempting to get out of the depression that surrounds him, and doesn’t necessarily succeed. I like the way he invokes utopian goals, since, as he says, “only utopian goals, I believe, will allow us partly to succeed.”

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I especially liked the more personal parts of this memoir, such as a chapter that describes the wickedly funny, while serious, interaction between the author and a hospital roommate. The author throughout the book comes across as immensely intelligent, funny, and able to stand up for himself. The book bogs down with lengthy “history note” type material chronicling major events effecting gay men, and the important gay men involved. Set in the US during the 70’s, it ends just as AIDS comes on the scene. I liked the book well enough I am looking forward to reading what I’m guessing is its successor “Waiting to Land A Mostly Political Memoir 1985 – 2008.”

[Peter Warshaw]

For me, at least, quite the education! Read it for a discussion with some friends and now, coincidentally, the Madison Feminist Book Club has chosen it for our 2019 January read! Cool!