Colm Tó ibí n knows the languages of the outsider, the secret keeper, the gay man or woman. He knows the covert and overt language of homosexuality in literature. In "Love in a Dark Time, " he also describes the solace of finding like-minded companions through reading.

Tó ibí n examines the life and work of some of the greatest and most influential writers of the past two centuries, figures whose homosexuality remained hidden or oblique for much of their lives, either by choice or necessity. The larger world couldn't know about their sexuality, but in their private lives, and in the spirit of their work, the laws of desire defined their expression.

This is an intimate encounter with Mann, Baldwin, Bishop, and with the contemporary poets Thom Gunn and Mark Doty. Through their work, Tó ibí n is able to come to terms with his own inner desires -- his interest in secret erotic energy, his admiration for courageous figures, and his abiding fascination with sadness and tragedy. Tó ibí n looks both at writers forced to disguise their true experience on the page and at readers who find solace and sexual identity by reading between the lines.

Reviews

A noted Irish novelist and critic discovers the comforts of gay literature. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Departing from recent novels The Blackwater Lightship and The Story of the Night and nonfiction such as his Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border, Dublin-based writer Toibin offers nine case studies in as many chapters of how "gay life" has informed our readings of writers, artists and filmmakers like Oscar Wilde, Francis Bacon, Elizabeth Bishop, James Baldwin, Pedro Almodovar and Mark Doty. The chapter "Goodbye to Catholic Ireland" wonders if Cathal " Searchaigh is the first gay poet in the Irish language, and speaks against the Church's continued hold on the Irish life of the mind. (Oct. 29) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

John Gardner "Times Literary Supplement" It is Colm Toibin's great strength that he is able to attune himself to nuances, and to the ways in which people "invent" themselves.