Sanctuary: A Tale of Life in the Woods

by Paul Monette, Vivienne Flesher (Illustrator)

"It may not have been - how could it have been - the very last forest. But to all the creatures who lived there...." Like a shaman, Monette, the novelist, poet, essayist, AIDS activist and National Book Award winner (Becoming a Man) who died of AIDS in 1995, creates a magic space within this animal fable, which resonates with wisdom and grace. This posthumous offering is an amazingly tender parable of same-sex love full of political overtones sounding Monette's lifelong themes of social justice, the need for tolerance of diversity and the fluid nature of sexual selves. The romantic love that blossoms between Renarda the Fox and Lapine the Rabbit is doubly wrong in the eyes of the dictatorial Great Horned Owl who presides over their forest realm - wrong because it's interspecies and because it's between two females. The Owl (not a wise bird here) commands all the forest creatures to spy on one another and to report any "differentness." By splitting up the forest's denizens into two races, First Ones and second-class "refugees" the Owl sows antagonism and fear, fostering a network of spies and snitches. The lovers, once discovered, are charged with "crimes against nature," arrested and banished to separate rehabilitation camps, until a bumbling apprentice wizard, Albertus the Lesser, exposes the Owl as an impostor and transforms the forest into a haven of tolerance and love. Monette's complex, quicksilver prose aims at the heart and never misses. His entrancing tale is illustrated throughout with luminous, spectral pictures that enhance the moonlit aura of enchantment. (Publisher's Weekly.)

In a fairy tale that captures the strangeness of society's rules and the liberating nature of love, the Great Horned Owl sets his intolerant agenda for the forest.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, LGBT, Animals, Queer

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Online Guide to Paul Monette's papers at UCLA:
http://findaid.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/...

In novels, poetry, and a memoir, Paul Monette wrote about gay men striving to fashion personal identities and, later, coping with the loss of a lover to AIDS.

Monette was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1945. He was educated at prestigious schools in New England: Phillips Andover Academy and Yale University, where he received his B.A. in 1967. He began his prolific writing career soon after graduating from Yale. For eight years, he wrote poetry exclusively.

After coming out in his late twenties, he met Roger Horwitz, who was to be his lover for over twenty years. Also during his late twenties, he grew disillusioned with poetry and shifted his interest to the novel, not to return to poetry until the 1980s.

In 1977, Monette and Horwitz moved to Los Angeles. Once in Hollywood, Monette wrote a number of screenplays that, though never produced, provided him the means to be a writer. Monette published four novels between 1978 and 1982. These novels were enormously successful and established his career as a writer of popular fiction. He also wrote several novelizations of films.

Monette's life changed dramatically when Roger Horwitz was diagnosed with AIDS in the early 1980s. After Horwitz's death in 1986, Monette wrote extensively about the years of their battles with AIDS (Borrowed Time, 1988) and how he himself coped with losing a lover to AIDS (Love Alone, 1988). These works are two of the most powerful accounts written about AIDS thus far.

Their publication catapulted Monette into the national arena as a spokesperson for AIDS. Along with fellow writer Larry Kramer, he emerged as one of the most familiar and outspoken AIDS activists of our time. Since very few out gay men have had the opportunity to address national issues in mainstream venues at any previous time in U.S. history, Monette's high-visibility profile was one of his most significant achievements. He went on to write two important novels about AIDS, Afterlife (1990) and Halfway Home (1991). He himself died of AIDS-related complications in 1995.

In his fiction, Monette unabashedly depicts gay men who strive to fashion personal identities that lead them to love, friendship, and self-fulfillment. His early novels generally begin where most coming-out novels end; his protagonists have already come to terms with their sexuality long before the novels' projected time frames. Monette has his characters negotiate family relations, societal expectations, and personal desires in light of their decisions to lead lives as openly gay men.

Two major motifs emerge in these novels: the spark of gay male relations and the dynamic alternative family structures that gay men create for themselves within a homophobic society. These themes are placed in literary forms that rely on the structures of romance, melodrama, and fantasy.

Monette's finest novel, Afterlife, combines the elements of traditional comedy and the resistance novel; it is the first gay novel written about AIDS that fuses personal love interests with political activism.

Monette's harrowing collection of deeply personal poems, Love Alone: 18 Elegies for Rog, conveys both the horrors of AIDS and the inconsolable pain of love lost. The elegies are an invaluable companion to Borrowed Time.

Before the publication and success of his memoir, Becoming a Man, it seemed inevitable that Monette would be remembered most for his writings on AIDS. Becoming a Man, however, focuses on the dilemmas of growing up gay. It provides at once an unsparing account of the nightmare of the closet and a moving and often humorous depiction of the struggle to come out. Becoming a Man won the 1992 National Book Award for nonfiction, a historical moment in the history

Reviews

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful fairytale by Paul Monette about love and justice overcoming division and hatred.

With lovely illustrations.

[Bethany Winn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't give 5 stars very often at all, but this is a sweet, powerful, terrible, tender queer fairy tale. It needs to be told and heard and retold and become part of the fabric of narrative that builds humanity.
Lotus Brew banned book free library read.

Second read 2024. 💞

[K M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very touching forest fable, in which love, compassion, and truth, trump hate, deceit, and intolerance.

[jordan! · Rating 5 out of 5]

a very tender little story, soft in its telling & powerful in its allegory

[Bryan Spellman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficult to say if I should count this as it's really just a story published posthumously, but it is, strictly speaking, a book, if a very short one. Monette is one of my favorite authors. I have 8 of his works in my library at present, including all three of his AIDS memoirs. Sanctuary was originally intended to be one story in a collection. Like all fables, it is intended as instruction, and is beautifully told. The story of the love between a fox and a rabbit, both female, not only shows us how love changes our own nature--the fox becomes a vegetarian, as an example--but also shows how narrow minded outsiders may have difficulty accepting such a "contrary to nature" relationship. The story also is clear on the difference between true power and the illusion of power--something we all need to keep in mind in these frightful days.

[Linda Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time there was a beautiful forest which survived unspoiled by mankind. A witch had poured every ounce of her power and her life into creating a spell which discouraged hunters and lumbermen and others who would despoil this garden of eden. The animals lived in peace. Well, at least they lived within the laws of nature. The strong preyed upon the weak, as it had always been. But man's greed was kept at bay. Harmony existed until the great horned owl, who had once been the witch's familiar, decided that he was the ruler of the forest. He decreed laws and enlisted enforcers and spies. He also divided the denizens into descendants of the original animals of the forest and the immigrants who had snuck in while the witch was busy weaving her magic. And eventually the owl locates the perfect scapegoats - a fox and a rabbit (both female) who had fallen in love. The lovers are separated and the owl is pleased with his powers. But do not despair. There will be a happy ending to this lovely story. It is a book that will only take two or three hours of your time but one that is well worth the investment.

[d. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheepishly, Albertus leaned over, even as the animals danced in circles about them, and murmured, "Dearest, I have to admit, I don't even know how to transform myself as a woman. I'm afraid you'll be stuck with me as a man through all eternity."
"Don't be silly," she laughed in delight. "The gender spell is the easiest one of all. It's just a matter of knowing what you want to play."
With that Renarda and Lapine dragged them to their feet to join the dancing.

[David Alonzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very small book that is very big on message. The story is multi-faceted. It could be a children’s story just taking the words at their literal level. It could be a cautionary tale to folks who claim to be more authoritative than they actually are. Also to folks who try to stir up things when the status quo is fine as it is. Then, of course, it could be a warning to not be homophobic.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though it is the late Monette's final work, written in the 90's, this is both an essential book for its witchy tale of sapphic love & how it is still relevant in today's political climate. We are not to be divided-- we are all one of love.

[Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sweet little fairy tale that also served as a beautiful allegory to racism and abuse of power. I was a little skeptical about how Paul Monette would do fairy tale, not to mention young adult, but he wove a beautiful story, didn’t talk down to his readers, and gave a perfect little book.

[S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There is no escaping the long paw of justice." What a charming little book.

[Doug Levandowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charming, long-form fable perfect for anyone a little too old for fairy tales. Perhaps a bit chaotic and a bit heavy-handed for adults, but ideal, I think, for kids.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this short story of living whom we chose to love and acceptance. I will be reading more from Monette

[John Hannam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something we should all read. Our hearts need this message, now more than ever.

[Lana Kamennof-sine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written fable of magic and love and greed.

[Wynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful fable, reflecting on the tension between existing in nature as we see it for ourselves and those who seek to impose their sense of what is natural on us.

[CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the sentiment, but the writing left me a bit unsatisfied :/

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

One from Cate's collection, now at Alango School. A wonderful fairy tale about what happens when a community is driven by fear instead of compassion, what happens when being different from the norm is punished rather than accepted. Charmingly written, though a little predictable. Warning: don't read the dust cover text or you will know where the story goes!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read lots of Paul Monette's work-which has the tendency to be well composed and tender.

He wrote this right before he died. It's a fairy tale for the gay folk.

It's so lovely. Though it is a fairy tale, so you need to be able to settle in for that kind of thing.

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a lovely book. This animal fable contemplates gender, sexuality, classism/immigration, environmentalism, dictatorships, and of course love, all in a mere 94 pages and with beautiful, tender prose.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is lovely and charming, written as a fairytale but exploring environmental destruction, the power of fear in altering a community, the illusion of power vs actual power, queer relationships and the healing nature of courage, compassion and love. With beautiful illustrations.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Two different species of animal fall in love and have to deal with the trials our lgbtq ancestors had to deal with. Its a cute romantic quick read. I especially love that the humans in the book are gender fluid.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a beautiful story and allegory for our own times and others. showcases the beauty of hope, the primacy of love, and the joys of letting others follow their hearts.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Short fairy tale about a rabbit and fox who fall in love. So hopeful.

[Bart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sanctuary is a cute queer fairy tale that I wish I had read to me when I was younger..

[Randal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet, little fairytale about a fox and a rabbit who break the rules of the forest where they live because they are lovers, are both female and, are of different species. A quick read.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty illustrations. I very much like Paul Monette's other fiction and autobiographical works.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a darling book.