''A Boy's Own Story'' is a 1982 semi-autobiographical novel by

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (born 1940) is an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer and an essayist on literary and social topics. Since 1999 he has been a professor at Princeton University. France made him (and later ) de l'Ordr ...

Overview

''A Boy’s Own Story'' is the first of a trilogy of novels, describing a boy's

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

and documenting a young man's experience of homosexuality in the 1950s in Cincinnati, Chicago and Michigan. The trilogy continued with '' The Beautiful Room Is Empty'' (1988) and ''

The Farewell Symphony ''The Farewell Symphony'' is a 1997 semi-autobiographical novel by Edmund White. It is the third of a trilogy of novels, being preceded by '' A Boy's Own Story'' (1982) and '' The Beautiful Room Is Empty'' (1988). It depicts the later adulth ...

'' (1997), which brought the setting up to the 1990s. Although all three share a number of themes and are frequently considered at least partly autobiographical, they do not tell a linear story in the manner of some trilogies, and can be read independently of one another.

Plot

The story starts when the narrator, aged 15, experiences the physical side of young love with his twelve-year-old friend Kevin O'Brien. Although he is the younger boy, Kevin takes the lead in the sexual activity. Kevin's remoteness keeps the relationship one-sided; he forgets all about it once each session is over, whereas the narrator gets more and more worried about his deep feelings. As the book progresses, he starts to have cravings for anal penetration. The encounters between the two adolescents become infrequent and are pushed to the background as the narrator's soul-searching about his homosexuality continues.

Literary significance and criticism

Catherine Stimpson, a reviewer, suggests that ''A Boy's Own Story'' combines elements of

J.D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in ''S ...

's ''

The Catcher in the Rye ''The Catcher in the Rye'' is an American novel by J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form from 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst ...

'' and

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's ''De Profundis''. Paul Flynn and Matthew Todd call the novel "a touchstone in gay culture just as Christopher Isherwood’s ''Goodbye to Berlin'' was in the 30s,

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

’s ''Faggots'' in the 70s".

References

External links

New York Times review
Fiction set in the 1950s 1982 American novels American autobiographical novels Novels by Edmund White Novels set in New Jersey Novels with gay themes E. P. Dutton books 1980s LGBT novels Novels set in Cincinnati {{1980s-autobio-novel-stub