Leavitt, David

(US, 1961– )

Leavitt's subject matter is usually gay sexuality within the nuclear family in the AIDS era. His debut collection of short stories, Family Dancing (1985), gave a bitter account of the American middle classes. It was followed by the novel The Lost Language of Cranes (1986), a close observation of gay life and love using the social world of Manhattan, high and low, as its backdrop. Looking at gay love in the closet, and in a party mood, the novel has many layers. Leavitt has an effective metaphorical touch, in the stories and the novels. While England Sleeps (1995), unlike his earlier work, is set in the fascinating demi-monde of 1936 London, and takes Orwell for its mentor. While tracing hedonism's rapid transit from delight to guilt, it is also an interesting and unusual coming-out novel set against the Spanish Civil War.

Edmund White, Christopher Isherwood  AM