Book Review: "Love in a Dark Time" by Colm Tóibín

I haven't read much by this author but I can assure you that I will definitely be on the lookout for more after completing Love in a Dark Time. An anthology of stories regarding the LGBTQIA+ community of artists including Thomas Mann and Oscar Wilde, Colm Tóibín takes us on a journey of strength, resilience, darkness and hope. Again, I purchased this from the Queer Lit Bookshop in Manchester and if you ever get the chance to pop into it and buy some great books, sit and have a coffee (or a tea) and read - I would highly recommend that you do just that. It is one of the most perfect places on this planet.

Love in a Dark Time is a wide collection of essays exploring the secrecy associated with being homosexual at a time when perhaps, there was little acceptance of it. But then again, as we move through the essays, we also see the changing times and attitudes, looking at the way in which acceptance grew but yet, we are still fighting the battle to make sure everyone is accepted and everyone has a right to live as they wish as a consenting adult. One of the first essays for example, deals with Walt Whitman and the way in which the subtext of homosexuality was often ignored by the academics who studied him. Be that as it may, there was an academic regularly commenting on him who would go on to jump from a building and fall to his death because of the fact he too, was homosexual and could not live with the secrecy. Here we are forced to confront two realities: one in which someone is seen and ignored, the other in which someone hides it our of fear and is almost 'found out'. Both of these attitudes are shaped by the way straight people interact with homosexuals and honestly, it is actually quite sad. Nobody else should be allowed to shape your experience of yourself apart from you.

I'm going to say that this book doesn't read like a biography of these people but rather explores in-depth snapshots of their existences in which we can see the flourishing or the secrecy of their sexualities. In many cases, their art proves to be this avenue in which they can reveal themselves in some way without it being too extreme as they would most likely draw ridicule. Unfortunately, this isn't quite true for one of my favourite people in the world, Oscar Wilde, who was eventually put in prison with his only novel (and my favourite book in the world) used against him in the trial. Their desires may not have been openly acknowledged at that time but we must face the fact that Oscar Wilde was perhaps one of the most daring and intelligent men of his era. The man was a legend in human form and I blame the British Justice system for his early death.

The essays explore how love is represented when it cannot be openly lived. Gestures, unspoken tensions and looks in certain ways are there to almost represent implicitly what might be, rather than having something outright and explicit in the text which would cause scandal and see them no longer able to earn from their work. These are therefore perhaps the most intelligent groups of people and the most daring in the art world. They not only defy convention (which is alright), but they also put int aspects of themselves that was criminal in England until 1967. These people really put their lives on the line and the consumers were always looking, but never really found it out. I love how they managed to do things so implicitly. But I am also happy that they can live their lives as everyone else can now.

There's a blend between the academic and the imagined in this book. When we look at men like Thomas Mann and Henry James, we see people who were fairly reserved in their ways though their literature speaks differently. The author tries to formulate portraits of the fear these people may have felt in their hearts when penning these texts as they sought to reveal their emotional truths without being on the receiving end of something Oscar Wilde already had to suffer. I find it both fascinating and incredible that there was so much resilience in this world (even if some of them chose to jump from buildings). However, what I am also grateful for is that I found this book in the Queer Lit Bookshop, a bookshop dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ lifestyles - something which showcases how far we've come since then.

Honestly, I found this book rather incredible. Yes, the chapters are about separate authors but there are underlying themes of secrecy, of sanity and of the ability to live authentically (which many of these writers did not have). If you love LGBTQIA+ literature then this one is not to be missed.