Confessions of a Jewish Wagnerite : being gay and Jewish in America

D.Mass Lawrence, Gottfried Wagner

This is a series of autobiographical essays which provide critical commentary on leading figures, personalities, events and issues in the worlds of identity politics, AIDS and the arts in post-World War II America. It probes the interconnectedness of gay, Jewish and musical subcultures. The book is set against the backdrop of AIDS, when every sexually-active gay man is forced to confront his own mortality. To understand the fear that the disease had touched, the author faces the reality that his own life had been dominated by internalized anti-Semitism. His is the story of confronting the hatred that can result from constant exposure to the hatred of others. Through examining relationships with other gay men, he argues that anti-Semitism, racism and misogyny are often proportional to the internalization of homophobia.