*Out with the Stars by James Purdy (Peter Owen, 1992) A...

*Out with the Stars by James Purdy (Peter Owen, 1992)

 

Another strange -- of course -- book by James Purdy, and although it has all the usual Purdian qualities, it seems a bit forced and haphazard.  It's set in New York City in 1965, and concerns itself with a number of homosexual artists, mostly composers, photographers, actors -- some ancient, some striplings.

What little plot there is revolves around the world premiere of Abner Blossom's opera Cock Crow, which is based on the life of Cyril Vane, whose life-long passion and work was photographing and fetishizing naked Black men.  Cyril's Russian silent-movie-star wife, who is incensed by her husband's proclivities and jealous of the attention he pays to men, vows to prevent the opera from opening, and much unbelievable drama ensues.

Purdy seems to let the book go wherever it likes; it has no discernible structure or shape, but then one doesn't read Purdy for those things.  Yet a certain magical resonance is missing in Out with the Stars -- too often Purdy seems to be on autopilot -- it's like a complicated gourmet recipe copied by a not-fully-informed chef, who omits several key yet secret ingredients, and produces a dish that is comestible rather than delicious.

 

A young James Purdy