Connect with us

News

30 Years Later, Gay Author Michael Nava Re-Imagines His 1st Mystery Novel

Published

on

“Little Death” Returns As “Lay Your Sleeping Head,” A Work Of Depth and Maturity

In a major LGBT literary event, 30 years after its original issue,  Michael Nava has published a revision–or more accurately, a re-imagining–of his first mystery novel, The Little Death. The new publication, entitled Lay Your Sleeping Head, is a mature novel that transcends the expectations of the mystery genre.

In the 1980s, Nava emerged as a leading practitioner of the gay mystery novel. In his acclaimed seven-novel series featuring Chicano lawyer Henry Rios — The Little Death (1986), Goldenboy (1988), How Town (1990), The Hidden Law (1992), The Death of Friends (1996), The Burning Plain (1997), and Rag and Bone (2001) — Nava established himself as a worthy successor to Joseph Hansen, who pioneered the gay mystery novel in the 1970s by presenting for the first time in the crime genre a rich variety of LGBT characters, unsensationally, as individuals with understandable desires, triumphs, and frustrations.

As Ted Pebworth has observed, Nava’s protagonist is conceived in the mold of the American hardboiled detective who stands outside society and, as a consequence, sees more clearly than most its corruption, injustice, and inequality.

Rios is doubly an outsider in all of the worlds in which he lives and works. First, he is a Chicano in an Anglo society and an Anglo-dominated profession. Although his brilliance as a criminal lawyer is widely recognized, he often feels uncomfortable with and condescended to by his clients and professional associates.

Second, he is a gay man, who faces homophobia both in his profession and in the Chicano society with which he identifies. Despised by his father for not being manly enough, and distrusted by other Chicanos because of his education, his profession, and what they perceive as his collaboration with the Anglo society at large, he is constantly aware of his difference, and of his failure to fit in.Â

Nava has explained his attraction to the mystery in terms of its function as a vehicle to explore his own “sense of ‘otherness’ and estrangement from mainstream culture — as a gay man in a straight world and a brown man in a white world.”

“In classic noir novels — by Chandler and Ross Macdonald, for example — you had an outsider hero who embodied the virtues the mainstream pretended to honor — loyalty, courage, ingenuity — but rarely demonstrated,” Nava has said. “This was the perfect setting for a queer Latino lawyer struggling to do the right thing in a hostile world. That’s why I wrote mysteries, not because I set out to be a mystery writer.”

A man who is obsessed with his work, often at the expense of his personal relationships, Rios is a relentless defender of outsiders who are otherwise defenseless, most of them young gay men who are victims of a homophobic or exploitative society. In the process of defending them, he proves himself a tenacious and insightful detective.

The seven novels are more than puzzles to be unraveled. Indeed, the novels are less plot-driven than character-driven. What sets them — especially the last five — apart from much detective fiction, in addition to their highly textured and allusive prose, is the depth with which Nava probes character and motivation.

In the series, Rios is gradually revealed to be more complex and more introspective than most fictional detectives, and his internal struggles and his often tortured relationships with others provide the major interest of the books and lift them above their formulaic genre. As Christopher Bram has observed, the series develops into “a large-scale moral portrait of one man’s life over fifteen years.”

In the course of the series, Nava grew from a competent mystery novelist to a writer of unusual insight.

And over the course of the series, Rios develops in convincing yet unpredictable ways. In Pebworth’s summary, he “moves from the Bay Area to Los Angeles; suffers from occupational burnout; succumbs to and eventually overcomes alcoholism; falls in love with a young man who is HIV-positive and subsequently loses him to AIDS; suffers a heart attack; slowly comes to terms with his homosexuality, his abusive father, his neglectful mother, and his emotionally distant lesbian sister; is nominated to a judgeship; and finally establishes an unusual but potentially nurturing family within his Chicano culture.”

As Garth Greenwell has noted, what comes to the fore in the later novels “are Rios’s relationships with his family and the queer and Latino communities, and with the horror wrought by AIDS and by the hatred of gay people that prevented an effective response to the epidemic.”Â

Nava’s decision to abandon the Rios series in 2001 was deeply disappointing to many. Hence, his return to the series with Lay Your Sleeping Head is a cause for celebration.

The Little Death, the first novel in the series, was initially envisioned as a “one-off” experiment rather than as the beginning of a series. It is an accomplished first-novel that tells an interesting story and introduces intriguing characters; but it lacks the complexity and depth that becomes apparent in the third volume of the series, How Town, and which also distinguish the final four.

In a recent interview, Nava explained that he undertook the revision of The Little Death for two reasons: “One, I’m a much better writer now than I was at 25 when I started writing that book and two, having written a series of books — which I hadn’t planned to do at the beginning — I now had a better idea of Rios’s character and motivations and what would become of him. So I treated the published book as a first draft of the first chapter of a single novel in seven parts.”

He added: “The revised work was so different, I thought it deserved a new title to signal that it is a very different version of the story.”

The new title is the first line of W.H. Auden’s “Lullaby,” one of the greatest love poems of the twentieth century. Naming the novel with a literary allusion brings it into conformity with Nava’s practice in other novels of the Rios series, whose titles allude to poems by cummings, Dante, Auden, Cavafy, and Homer. The allusions enrich the texts and place them in significant literary contexts. Nava’s allusions, both in the titles and within the novels, though subtle and unobtrusive, are nearly always meaningful, and they add to the moral seriousness of the works.

The allusion to “Lullaby” is particularly important because Auden’s poem places the relationship it celebrates in a context of mutability and decay that poignantly underlines the fragility of a love endangered from within by shame, promiscuity, and betrayal, and from without by the disapproval of homophobes — the “pedantic boring cry” of “fashionable madmen.” The speaker of the poem, as he cradles his lover’s head “Human on my faithless arm,” describes him as “Mortal, guilty, but to me / The entirely beautiful,” words that Henry Rios could also apply to Hugh Paris, the man whose murder propels the plot of Lay Your Sleeping Head.

Among the most significant re-imaginations of the original novel is the fuller development of Rios’s relationship with Paris and, after his death, with another young man, Grant Hancock. In the new work, the relationships are more convincing and more layered than in the original, where they functioned primarily as plot devices.

This development involves a greater introspectiveness on the part of Rios, and also includes the addition of explicit sex scenes. Although the explicitness of these scenes may be disconcerting to aficionados of the mystery, a genre that generally avoids sex scenes altogether,  they are justified by their illumination of characters and relationships.

The re-imagination of the original novel also includes a fuller sense of its setting in the early 1980s, especially a more acute awareness of the events of the era that threatened LGBT people. There is, for example, a recounting of the White Night Riots of 1979, the riots that occurred when Dan White, the murderer of gay City Supervisor Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was sentenced to less than eight years of prison. There is also an allusion to the first reports of the “gay cancer” that was subsequently named AIDS.

The gay characters in the re-imagined novel feel deeply the precariousness of their careers and lives in a society in which they have few legal protections.

Since the publication of the original novel, LGBT people and Hispanics have made significant progress toward acceptance in mainstream American society. Hence, it is important to be reminded of the difficulties both groups faced in the 1980s. Lay Your Sleeping Head is, after all, a historical novel as well as a mystery.

Nava’s re-imagining of The Little Death also entails some clarification of various plot points, tying up some loose ends,  and expanding the scope of inquiry from solving a mystery to probing philosophical questions as well as personal relationships.

The major thematic difference between The Little Death and the new work is the latter’s emphasis on inequality in all its forms. All great fortunes are built on the backs of others, Rios realizes, as he explores the source of the great railroad fortune at the heart of the mystery, which was built in part upon the exploitation and sacrifices of Chinese workers.

As with other explorations in Lay Your Sleeping Head, the issue of inequality is more complex and multi-faceted than it might at first appear.

Lay Your Sleeping Head is published by Kórima Press, an independent publisher committed to Queer Ch/Xicana and Ch/Xicano literary art. The volume, which may be purchased here contains, in addition to the novel, a fascinating Afterword entitled “The Making of Henry Rios.” In the Afterword, Nava discusses the origins of the Rios novels and their autobiographical elements, and, among other topics, his relationships with Joseph Hansen and the publisher Sasha Alyson.

Michael Nava is author not only of the Rios novels, six of which won Lambda Literary Awards, but also of the acclaimed historical novel, City of Palaces (2014), which is set in the years before and during the Mexican Revolution of 1910.Â

City of Palaces is published by the University of Wisconsin Press. It was a finalist for the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for best gay novel and won the 2014 International Latino Literary Award for best novel.

In the video below, Nava reads from and discusses City of Palaces at UCLA.

 

Â

Â

Â

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Antisemitism Is Wrong, But’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Pilloried for Promoting Antisemitic Claim

Published

8 hours ago

on

May 1, 2024

By

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was strongly criticized Wednesday after promoting a historically and biblically false, antisemitic claim while declaring antisemitism is wrong.

As the House voted on an antisemitism bill that would require the U.S. Dept. of Education to utilize a certain definition of antisemitism when enforcing anti-discrimination laws, the far-right Christian nationalist congresswoman made her false claims on social media.

“Antisemitism is wrong, but I will not be voting for the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090) today that could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews,” Greene tweeted.

The definition of antisemitism the House bill wants to codify was created by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Congresswoman Greene highlighted this specific text which she said she opposes: “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.”

READ MORE: MAGA State Superintendent Supports Chaplains in Public Schools – But Not From All Religions

What Greene is promoting is called “Jewish deicide,” the false and antisemitic claim that Jews killed Jesus Christ. Some who adhere to that false belief also believe all Jews throughout time, including in the present day, are responsible for Christ’s crucification.

Greene has a history of promoting antisemitism, including comparing mask mandates during the coronavirus pandemic to “gas chambers in Nazi Germany.”

Political commentator John Fugelsang set the record straight:

“If only you could read,” lamented Rabbi Dr. Mark Goldfeder, Esq., CEO and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center. The Antisemitism Awareness Act “could not convict anyone for believing anything, even this historical and biblical inaccuracy. It only comes into play if there is unlawful discrimination based on this belief that targets a Jewish person. Do you understand that distinction @RepMTG ?”

READ MORE: DeSantis Declares NYC ‘Reeks’ of Pot Amid Florida’s Battle for Legalization and 2024 Voters

“Not surprising,” declared Jacob N. Kornbluh, the senior political reporter at The Forward, formerly the Jewish Daily Forward. “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been accused in the past of making antisemitic remarks — including her suggestion that a Jewish-funded space laser had sparked wildfires in California in 2018, voted against the GOP-led Antisemitism Awareness Act.”

Jewish Telegraphic Agency Washington Bureau Chief Ron Kampeas, an award-winning journalist, took a deeper dive into Greene’s remarks.

“Ok leave aside the snark. The obvious antisemitism is in saying ‘the Jews’ crucified Jesus when even according to the text she believes in it was a few leaders in a subset of a contemporary Jewish community. It is collective blame, the most obvious of bigotries.”

“The text she presumably predicates her case on, the New Testament,” he notes, “was when it was collated a political document at a time when Christians and Jews were competing for adherents and when it would have been plainly dangerous to blame Rome for the murder of God.”

“Yes,” Kampeas continues, “that take is obviously one that a fundamentalist would not embrace, but it is the objective and historical take, and *should* be available to Jews (and others!) as a means of explaining why Christian antisemitism exists, and why it is harmful.”

CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere also slammed Greene, saying she “is standing up for continuing to talk about Jews being responsible for the killing of Jesus. (John & Matthew refer to some Jews handing over Jesus to Pilate,not Herod. But also: many, including Pope Benedict, have called blaming Jews a misinterpretation)”

READ MORE: ‘Pretty Strong Views’: Trump Vows ‘Big Statement’ on Abortion Pill in the ‘Next Week or Two’

 

Continue Reading

News

Potential Trump VP Pick Says ‘If You’re a Billionaire’ You Should Vote for Trump

Published

14 hours ago

on

May 1, 2024

By

One of the possible picks to be Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, seen as “rapidly ascending” the list, is urging billionaires to vote for the ex-president.

North Dakota Republican Governor Doug Burgum “is quickly moving up former President Trump’s list of possible vice presidential picks because Trump’s team believes he would be a safe choice who could attract moderate voters,” Axios reported on Sunday. “Burgum is on a long list of VP contenders, but Trump’s rising interest in the North Dakota governor has been clear in recent weeks — and reveals his latest thinking about how he thinks his running mate could help him with undecided voters.”

Praising Governor Burgum, the National Review’s Michael Brendan Dougherty on Monday wrote he was “the only candidate in 2024 to easily exceed expectations in the debates.”

“He is a well-liked governor from a small state. He projects seriousness and sobriety, two qualities Pence also had that were important to balance the 2016 Republican ticket. Burgum is also good at championing Republican policy, including our desperately needed policies of energy abundance and supply-side reform. He is also the right age — 67 — with no signs of slowing down. Burgum needs to survive the millions poured into opposition research, but, if he does, I think he would bring credit and balance to the Republican ticket.”

READ MORE: ‘Next Week, Absolutely’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Will Move to Oust Speaker Johnson

On Tuesday, Gov. Burgum, appearing on Fox News, told Laura Ingraham, “when you see someone who cares this deeply about this country, what he’s going through and what the Democrats and the liberal media is putting him through, and how he gets up and fights for every day people in America every day, and then his policies are all in the right direction.”

“If you’re a billionaire and you care about your shareholders, you care about your family and your grandkids, you should be voting for someone that’s going to bring prosperity to America and peace to the world, that’s what President Trump is going to do, that’s what he did for us when he was president,” Burgum claimed.

The Hill adds, “Ingraham suggested a lot of billionaires are still planning to support President Biden, especially those that are the ‘Wall Street types.’”

Last year, asked if he would ever do business with Trump, Bergum told NBC News, “I don’t think so,” and added, “I just think that it’s important that you’re judged by the company you keep.”

Some reports call Bergum a billionaire, while Forbes last year reported it “estimates Burgum’s net worth to be at least $100 million.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Would Not Oppose State Pregnancy Surveillance or Abortion Prosecution

 

 

Continue Reading

News

‘Next Week, Absolutely’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Will Move to Oust Speaker Johnson

Published

17 hours ago

on

May 1, 2024

By

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), standing in front of posters showing Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson casually embracing Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and behind a podium with a sign calling Johnson the “Uniparty Leader,” announced she will call up her “motion to vacate,” to try to oust Johnson “next week, absolutely.” She made her announcement despite public and private remarks and signals from top Republicans opposing the move, and despite it having little to no chance of passing.

Speaking Wednesday morning at a press event, Greene lashed out at the Republican House Speaker and Democratic Minority Leader after  Jeffries announced Democrats will vote to keep Johnson as Speaker.

“Now we have Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats coming out, embracing Mike Johnson with a warm hug and a big wet sloppy kiss.”

She later claimed taxes will go up if Democrats take the House in the November election because Johnson and Jeffries are “holding hands together.”

READ MORE: DeSantis Declares NYC ‘Reeks’ of Pot Amid Florida’s Battle for Legalization and 2024 Voters

Backing herself into a corner, the far-right Georgia MAGA Republican has positioned herself as the outraged opposition to her own party, with a small following – just two other House Republicans have announced they will support her move to oust Johnson.

Early into her remarks Greene said she had the right to try to oust Johnson because “I elected him,” also adding that she had voted for Johnson for Speaker.

Greene then unleashed a lengthy list of grievances against Johnson.

“Americans all together gave Republicans the House they gave us the House in 2022,” she said, according to a rush transcript. “You want to know why? Because they were fed up with the Democratic agenda that is destroying this country, wide open borders. An economy that’s crashing, freedoms being stolen, COVID shutdowns, all the horrors that happened when Joe Biden took the White House and Democrats took full control.”

The COVID shutdowns happened during Donald Trump’s presidency and were ordered by governors of both parties.

“He passed three continuing resolutions, and then he finally passed a two part omnibus that fully funded Joe Biden’s agenda and the Democrat agenda, funding the Department of Justice,” she said, adding that funding DOJ is effectively putting “President Trump in jail for the rest of his life, which is a death sentence.”

READ MORE: ‘Pretty Strong Views’: Trump Vows ‘Big Statement’ on Abortion Pill in the ‘Next Week or Two’

“Mike Johnson fully funded the FBI which raided Mar-a-Lago and gave them a brand new building as a gift. Pro-life Mike Johnson funded full term abortion clinics, funded the trans agenda on children that 70% of Americans are completely against on both sides of the aisle. And he fully funded Joe Biden’s open border policies, the number one issue in America.”

“Mike Johnson fully joined the disgusting business model of Washington, D.C. to fund forever wars. Yeah, that’s what this is. The uniparty is Make Ukraine Great Again. The uniparty is all about funding every single foreign war. They think this is the business model that needs to be done.”

She went on to angrily complain about funding “the murder and killing in foreign countries.”

“Our economy should not be built on the blood of wars in foreign countries. That’s not what our economy should be built on. That’s not how you grow jobs in America. That is that is horrific. It is evil it needs needs to end but that’s what the uniparty does. And that’s what they continue. Mike Johnson fully embraced it. And he funded $61 billion to Ukraine, funded war in Israel, while he funded Hamas and Gaza. How do you support Israel when you’re funding Hamas? And give more money away while our border stays open? And today 300 Americans will die from fentanyl tomorrow 300 Americans will die from fentanyl and the next day 300 more Americans will die from fentanyl poisoning because there’s a war on America. Led by the cartels in Mexico and nobody in Washington, D.C. gives a damn and has enough courage to face it.”

Watch clips of Greene above and below or at this link.

 

READ MORE: ‘Let’s Get a Warrant for Her Backyard’: Noem ‘Done Politically’ Right Wing Pundits Say

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.