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Three Men: An Experiment in the Biography of Emotion
A sociological classic lauded by many authorities, including Norman Mailer. Slight fading to jacket spice color, else a fine copy.
348 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
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July 15, 2015
A psychological case study of three men, the last homosexual, written in the late 1940's.
JOHNNY ROCCO was the first study and hands down the best. He was poor and badly behaved, his father killed, his mother raising ten kids. After getting kicked out of a few schools a social worker was assigned to him and the kids would ask who the grown man with him was. He didn't want to say social worker and look crazy and he didn't want to say friend or the kids would think it was a sexual relationship. These were 10 year-old kids in 1930 who knew what a predatory gay man was. We think modern times have corrupted children, clearly not.
There's no analysis with these studies, it seems to me Johnny had a learning disability and perhaps ADHD leading to issues with anger.
Next is WILLIAM MILLER and I don't even remember him, I have to check. Oh, just remembered. He went blind in adulthood and re-gained his sight for a short period. I think the inference is that his blindness was partly psychosomatic and brought on by a variety of causes, one of them excessive masturbation. This doesn't really fit with today's psychology and so William just came off as whiny.
The last is MARTIN BEARDSON. I think this is the one I bought the book for, but really don't. A gay man with mother issues who can't keep a job or speak a sentence without theatrical dramatics, this is a portrait of a gay neurotic in the 1940's. Stereotypes like this exist from that period because they were true. Martin lived his life being put down for his emotions and actions and was arrested twice for having sex in his early 20's. It doesn't give much hope. After being refused army admission in 1942 he kind of slunk around, went crazy for a while, and is now staying home scared of loud noises. Fun.
I liked that Evans didn't make judgments on the lives of her subjects and the book was written well. Except for the first one though these studies are too out of date to hold much interest.
JOHNNY ROCCO was the first study and hands down the best. He was poor and badly behaved, his father killed, his mother raising ten kids. After getting kicked out of a few schools a social worker was assigned to him and the kids would ask who the grown man with him was. He didn't want to say social worker and look crazy and he didn't want to say friend or the kids would think it was a sexual relationship. These were 10 year-old kids in 1930 who knew what a predatory gay man was. We think modern times have corrupted children, clearly not.
There's no analysis with these studies, it seems to me Johnny had a learning disability and perhaps ADHD leading to issues with anger.
Next is WILLIAM MILLER and I don't even remember him, I have to check. Oh, just remembered. He went blind in adulthood and re-gained his sight for a short period. I think the inference is that his blindness was partly psychosomatic and brought on by a variety of causes, one of them excessive masturbation. This doesn't really fit with today's psychology and so William just came off as whiny.
The last is MARTIN BEARDSON. I think this is the one I bought the book for, but really don't. A gay man with mother issues who can't keep a job or speak a sentence without theatrical dramatics, this is a portrait of a gay neurotic in the 1940's. Stereotypes like this exist from that period because they were true. Martin lived his life being put down for his emotions and actions and was arrested twice for having sex in his early 20's. It doesn't give much hope. After being refused army admission in 1942 he kind of slunk around, went crazy for a while, and is now staying home scared of loud noises. Fun.
I liked that Evans didn't make judgments on the lives of her subjects and the book was written well. Except for the first one though these studies are too out of date to hold much interest.
Displaying 1 of 1 review