Travelling on Love in a Time of Uncertainty: Contemporary Australian Gay Fiction

by Gary Dunne

A Striking collection of Australian short stories that captures what it is to be gay and living in the 90's. Eighteen pieces, across broad scenarios, that cover a lot of territory - an all night dance party; a clown market back room; a family funeral; a coming of age in outer suburbia; a Mardu Gras Veteran; a Whitlamesque drag queen; a deep sub-mariner; and an HIV survivor with attitude. Australian gay fiction has moved on from the monochrome coming out autobiography concerned with the validation of sexual identity to a full spectrum of themes, literary styles and narrative sites.

109 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Terry]

Assuming the titular “time of uncertainty” refers to the enduring AIDS epidemic when optimistic projections for an imminent cure had long since expired. Curiously, only a couple of the stories in this anthology deal with AIDS directly. I guess it just wasn't as culturally epochal for gay men/writers in Australia as it was for those in the US. Anyway, I was hoping to find some hidden gems here but no such luck. While the majority are competently written, they remain more or less forgettable, and the depiction of gay men “from all walks of life” isn't quite as diverse as the editor suggests. The most common setting we encounter is still the gay nightclub (or a gay function that serves the same purpose), invariably evoked in a conversational style containing clear traces of the stereotypical queen’s sneering wit, if that stereotype isn't among the characters themselves. I’m probably being way too harsh though. In terms of emerging Australian literatures — although it seems gay fiction never truly “emerged” here — these are interesting from a historical perspective, if not really satisfying from a general reader's.