Peter Hujar's Day

by Linda Rosenkrantz, Stephen Koch (Contributor)

On December 18, 1974, Linda Rosenkrantz asked her friend Peter Hujar to write down everything he did one day. Hujar met Rosenkrantz at her apartment on 94th street the following day where she asked him about it in detail. She tape-recorded their conversation and this book is a full transcript of that exchange, published here for the first time since it was recorded 47 years ago.

Edited and designed by Jordan Weitzman and Francis Schichtel
With an introduction by Stephen Koch

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Queer, Photography, Gay, Biography, New York

46 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2021

About the author

Linda Rosenkrantz is an American writer, known for her innovations in the realm of “nonfiction fiction,” most prominently in her novel Talk, a New York Review Books classic.

Reviews

[nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“𝘐 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵…𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺.”

Since the film adaptation won’t be coming to me anytime soon, I thought I’d pay this a visit after not having read Rosenkrantz since somewhere in my undergrad. I used to read these empty, chatty books. I’m thinking Adler, I’m thinking Capote. Stories.

Here I am, returning to them because it’s that time of the year where I’m reflecting and want big chats with old friends to ask them about their year, to fill in the details I missed out. Because I used to live alongside my friend’s lives, when living side-by-side was so inherent. Listing things. Funny anecdotes. Being away from home, and after so long, you miss the fine points. You miss the feelings. You don’t talk like you used to. Mostly because we’ve all become different people.

Here, Hujar talks about photographing Ginsberg, and with the sounds of it, I think Hujar finds him to be a queer bore. Not queer like that, no, like funny, an oddball. And he talks about Sontag. Big Kiss. Darling. Big kiss. Goodbye. One sandwich. Waiting on money. Sending photos. It really is just a day, dull in its roundabout way, but a day that happened some decades ago, and just hearing about it is like sitting on my friend’s bed, listening to some dumb story they’ve probably told once or twice before, but it’s one that they like, and they tell it with the same gusto, switching up flourishes, wanting me to feel it the same way I felt it the first time I heard it, but they don’t know this because it’s a story that they think they’re telling for the first time, and what they believe to be the first time is my third time but who’s doing the math anymore. I don’t even do that with my age. I don’t even do that with the dinners or the tears or the cups of coffee, all a measure of grace, all labors of love. Live love. Not often do I get to live love like this. But when it happens, I’m happy to be alive for another day, no matter how delightfully dull it may be.

[Joey Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels very easy to fall for the delusion that something completely ordinary becomes extraordinary when an extraordinary person does it, and I came into this with that mindset. This is literally just Peter Hujar dictating an arbitrary day in his life to his friend Linda Rosenkrantz— if i did this nobody would buy it in book form! But it works less as celebrity portraiture (although it is in a very microscopic way that) and more as a very zoomed-in portrait of a place and an era and a culture. Peter is a fun narrator and in a very nonchalant way drops these little images and moments that humanize huge cultural figures— a phone call from Susan Sontag, a call from Fran Leibowitz, a photoshoot with a dickish, pathetic Allen Ginsberg. Nothing about this is show-stopping or all that major, but it’s charming and only 30ish pages so I’m glad enough I read it.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, rounded down.

Although I was vaguely aware of this book when it first came out, the impetus for reading it now is that I wanted to do so before watching the Ira Sachs film adaptation - which I suspect I will like better, since I am a huge fan of both of the stars (Rebecca Hall and Ben Whishaw).

This is an 'interesting' experiment and gives a nice glimpse into both the subject's quotidian life and the bohemian artist lifestyle of the Lower East Side in 1974. But honestly, there isn't much here of transcendent quality. Still, it takes all of an hour to read, so...

[Zydeco Lamaze · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to make all of my friends do this

[Adam Messinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was boring and then I was like Adam stfuuuuuu like what do you want???? The beauty of the boring is valid. Sometimes death wields the stamp of icon on our most mundane activities. Gay men of my generation will never succeed in photography because the act of capturing queer bodies is no longer radical—it’s cliche. You will unfortunately have to die prematurely for your black n white photos of your naked gay male friends to be worth anything.

Also I had the pleasure of meeting Linda recently and I cried because she is 91 years old and smarter and more with it than some of the actual basketcase 60 year olds I know.

[Shadib Bin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Hujar is someone I dearly admire and love. This small little conversational book is everything and more about Peter living through a random day - full of attention to details, dry humor and wit, and ambitions that really shine through without ego. Adore this book.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice slice o life

[Sam Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Owned this book for nearly 2 years and finally found the chutzpah to read it after Sally and I fought over it in a San Francisco bookstore only to serendipitously find a second copy of it a few months later in Portland’s glorious Powell’s. A stunning portrait of one of the greatest and under-appreciated photographers of the 20th century rendered beautifully by a delicate narrative hand and an experimental style that I’d love to replicate with all my closest friends to keep as a time capsule. Hujar seems like such a sweet, witty, and exceedingly humble person, it’s a gift to have spoken with him in the way this text allowed me. A testament to something as ephemeral as conversation, friendship, and the creative milieu of the east village in the late twentieth century. Shoutout Susan Sontag and Fran Lebowitz cameo!! Shoutout Sally parallel play!! Shoutout Peter Hujar’s stunning apartment (but where was this torturous portrait of Allen Ginsberg 🤨)!!

[metempsicoso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ogni tanto vorrei essere meno impulsivo nelle mie retate libresche.
Per esempio questa, quella che mi ha portato a fare incetta di volumi di/su Peter Hujar, avrebbe potuto essere gestita con più ponderatezza.
Questo libricino? 36 facciate (con un'introduzione e una nota conclusiva), 4 fotografie + la copertina, una conversazione riprodotta. 19 euro.
Un po' troppo.
Bella l'idea alla base - Rosenkrantz ha registrato racconti di singole giornate di suoi amici -, ma il risultato lascia il tempo che trova.
Ho apprezzato il frangente in cui nella conversazione è comparsa Susan Sontag, vividissima anche da riprodotta, molto meno quello dedicato all'odioso Allen Ginsberg.
Hujar intrigante.
Però questo suo soffermarsi ripetuto sul peso della gente... Mah, anche meno.

[Sally Elhennawy · Rating 5 out of 5]

FINALLY read this stunner after having bought in San Francisco almost two years ago now. Just the sweetest slim volume, and what a treat to peer into a day in the life of such an iconic figure as Peter Hujar, whose casual retelling revealed both the inner workings of a particular era of New York bohemia, and just how essential he was to its network. A day in his life is like truly no other. I particularly loved being reminded of how cheap everything was in the 70s (the notion of something costing a certain amount of CENTS) and how lovely it is that people simply dropped in on and called one another to ask what was up. Shoutout Sam‘s parallel read… a long time in the making 🌟

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant peek into the mind and life of a photographer I admire from a lost generation of gay men.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful short read, that to me makes the already impressive film adaptation even more impressive.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

"LINDA: You lie all day long.
PETER: Yeah, I do. It’s amazing."

This was so amazing.

[Valerie Kamen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book that mostly takes place on the street I live on in ny on a balcony in Madrid.

Like proto liveblog which I’m coincidentally and simultaneously re-reading

Everyone should be required to write about at least one normal day in their life . I love this shit

[laura]

I wish i could read about the next day and the next day and the next and next and next

[Stella]

“P: I've wasted another day. All I did is spend two hours with Ginsberg-this takes a day?
L: Well that's why I'm doing this actually-to find out how people fill up their days, because I myself feel like I don't do anything much all day.”

[Harry Smith]

what does anyone really do with their days?

[Juan A. Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

great gay racconteur

[Zander Whalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would rename this book “The Beauty of Life B.C. (Before Cellphones)”

[Dante Schmitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I can't interrupt God"

[bran · Rating 5 out of 5]

we used to be a country

[Steven Visceglia]

Never bringing a book longer than 40 pages to the beach ever again, I feel so accomplished

[Freya Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book and idea. Can’t wait to see the film!

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

beauty in the mundane

[Juana Urrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this tiny slice of life and finding out that I’ve walked by Peter’s old loft a million times.

[Ella Roose · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The pen just wouldn’t write boldly, it wanted to go slow.”

[Philip Kenner]

Moments of pure tenderness amidst some fun snark. A simple but affecting portrait of a single day, providing a clear yet dream-tinted window into a New York that has long passed.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at Mast Books to get a sense of it.
Shamelessly devoured it from Stephen Koch’s introduction to last word while patrons had to move around me (sorry)

It was a rush. As someone endlessly in love with new york with a specific fetish for new york in the 70’s, this was catnip.

Hujar is so casual but still particular with his speech. He seemed aware that even his generic days were culture shaping. I could almost see the smirk when he admitted that sontag may - in fact - be a bit out of touch. I, along with the rest of the world, are deeply familiar with hujar’s haunting and often melancholic photographs. What a treat to get a slice of his (decidedly not) mundane.

Also loved rosenkratz’ concept for this experiment and her voice during the interview and her diligence to ensure this day could make its way to my greedy paws.

[Charlotte Zinsser · Rating 3 out of 5]

- Didn’t enjoy the first half of his day because I didn’t know the people he was discussing
- Hard to follow the conversational format because it’s so far from grammatically correct, but it got better when the story picked up the pace, when he started talking about Ginsberg
- I think the book would be extremely enjoyable if you were a part of this scene or if you know who all of the people are
- Peter certainly comes across as cool and likeable

[Chris McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read entirely on Dec. 18, 2025, 51 years after Peter Hujar’s Day.

In honor of Peter Hujar here’s the sum of my day.

I woke up in a bad mood stressed about my tasks for the day. I had just gotten my hair cut the night before but it didn’t sit right when I woke up this morning so I took a shower to wet it and reset it despite having taken one less than 12 hours before. My car was iced over and I scraped the windows furiously just to begin my commute, never mind get to my destination. I listened to “The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray” audiobook as I drove. My GPS diverted me through town roads rather than the highway before I got to the parking garage I normally go to and caught the subway from there. I began reading “Peter Hujar’s Day” on the train before walking to my office. Once there I got caught up on notifications, greeted my coworkers, and made myself a customary free Thursday bagel with cream cheese with a cup of coffee. I began chipping away at the assignments I had been procrastinating before taking a long lunch to read more of “Peter Hujar’s Day.” I paused when I heard from a friend who told me something in confidence. I was irked by the gadfly in chief per usual in the latest of his stunts, and then returned to work. I made more progress on another task I’d been delaying and finished it before leaving the office. I made my way by train across the river and began a multi-hour journey criss-crossing neighborhoods to see and capture visuals of extravagant holiday light displays. I made it back to my car, drove home, had a less than satisfying dinner, and sat down here to write this all down. Only one more day until I’m mostly off for an extended period for the holidays.