The Lost Autobiography of Samuel Steward: Recollections of an Extraordinary Twentieth-Century Gay Life

by Samuel M. Steward, Jeremy Mulderig (Editor), Scott Herring (Foreword)

On August 21, 1978, a year before his seventieth birthday, Samuel Steward (1909–93) sat down at his typewriter in Berkeley, California, and began to compose a remarkable autobiography. No one but his closest friends knew the many different identities he had performed during his as Samuel Steward, he had been a popular university professor of English; as Phil Sparrow, an accomplished tattoo artist; as Ward Stames, John McAndrews, and Donald Bishop, a prolific essayist in the first European gay magazines; as Phil Andros, the author of a series of popular pornographic gay novels during the 1960s and 1970s. Steward had also moved in the circles of Gertrude Stein, Thornton Wilder, and Alfred Kinsey, among many other notable figures of the twentieth century. And, as a compulsive record keeper, he had maintained a meticulous card-file index throughout his life that documented his 4,500 sexual encounters with more than 800 men.

The story of this life would undoubtedly have been a sensation if it had reached publication. But after finishing a 110,000-word draft in 1979, Steward lost interest in the project and subsequently published only a slim volume of selections from his manuscript.

In The Lost Autobiography of Samuel Steward , Jeremy Mulderig has integrated Steward’s truncated published text with the text of the original manuscript to create the first extended version of Steward’s autobiography to appear in print—the first sensational, fascinating, and ultimately enlightening story of his many lives told in his own words. The product of a rigorous line-by-line comparison of these two sources and a thoughtful editing of their contents, Mulderig’s thoroughly annotated text is more complete and coherent than either source alone while also remaining faithful to Steward’s style and voice, to his engaging self-deprecation and his droll sense of humor. Compellingly readable and often unexpectedly funny, this newly discovered story of a gay life full of wildly improbable—but nonetheless true—events is destined to become a landmark queer autobiography from the twentieth century.

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

288 pages, Paperback

Published April 24, 2018

About the author

Also published under the pseudonym Phil Andros,
Sam M. Steward.

Reviews

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly the story of and stories by Samuel Steward and his plethora of gay pseudonyms has, for the better part of a half century, been forgotten. Fortunately, in the years immediately prior to his death, he wrote an autobiography that forever engraved his own incredibly queer life story into the annals of gay literature.

Following his path from a small town in Ohio through a PhD program and professorship and finally to his time as a tattooist in Chicago, this book details the story of a man who was deeply thoughtful and reflective and at the same time subversive and complex. The story itself interweaves cultural references and staunch criticism in a really beautiful manner, but sadly much of the metaphorical genius of the book was silenced by the editor's (why did this book have an editor??) extremely heavy handed use of footnotes - I mean really! We don't need every single cultural reference and metaphor spelled out in a footnote! Let the writing speak for itself.

Overall, an important autobiography about the life of an incredibly important write and man.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I found this - I had read the biography of Samuel Steward when it came out, but hearing his story in his own words was fascinating. A good combo with the book of his essays in the Illinois Dental Journal. Mulderig did a great job of combining Steward's unfinished manuscript with an abridged version that he published.

[Lou Corn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tried to resist being charmed and maybe that’s why I sped through these pages. Read a few good lines out loud. Flipped back and forth often to look again at some of the photos. This fucking guy!!

I’ll probably drop this off at the little cupboard library down the block and hope someone else gets a kick out of it.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5.

A fascinating autobiography from a fascinating man. Justin Spring's biography, Secret Historian, fills in the salient facts, but hearing things directly from Steward's pen is a great delight. His sardonic humor, impishness, and moments of poetic self-reflection make this book a fast, entertaining read, and also doubles as an important look into pre-Stonewall queer life.

[Jim Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had many fascinating episodes (almost worth the price just for the stories of seducing Alfred Lord Douglas and Andre Gide's Arab servant), but this could have been so much more enjoyable if Steward were a likable person. He is not. He reminds me of an English professor I had in college--a gay, self-aggrandizing drunk (my professor claimed to be pals with Faulkner!). Steward's life as an English professor is deadly dull and one sided. I'm sure he was more often fired for being blotto than for sticking up for his principles. Equally dull are his stories as a tattoo artist for the Hell's Angels (it takes a special lack of talent to do that!) and as a gay porn writer. The way he records his encounters with tricks and hustlers makes me think he did not see them as people but as a plot lines to be used later in his fiction. A miss that should have been a home run!

[Wendelle]

It's an autobiography of a humanities professor and author who had to deal with difficult taboos surrounding homosexuality during his time (1950s etc) and place of work (oft-times MidWest or Appalachian America), but also found a thriving community with the authors and artist of his time (Andre Gide, Gertrude Stein, etc.) Given what I had heard of Samuel Steward, I expected a more provocative, flagrantly flaunting, jazzy autobiography, as this account is more of a straightforward chronology of all the colleges he's taught in and a staid enumeration of his affairs.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars*

Read this for my Queer Literature class, and it was endless fascinating, entertaining and at many points within his narration, hilarious. I also think his experiences are very enlightening in aspects such as queer regionalism, and the ways in which he does and doesn’t ascribe to the “standard gay white man” queer experience. Didn’t necessarily have much personal effect for me, unlike “Fun Home”, but definitely glad to have known more about this incredibly interesting man.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm very glad to have this easily available, and although I quibble with some of the editorial choices--I would prefer access to original material over narrative continuity--Mulderig has done careful work. We have so few first-person accounts of pre-Stonewall LGBTQ lives, so I feel very fortunate to have this one by Steward, an endlessly fascinating person who was also an extremely talented writer.

[Emma]

I only read 8 chapters of this for class, so I don’t feel I can rate it. But man, what an interesting guy.

[Dale Boyer]

My review of this is forthcoming in The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide.