conduct of both is derived inti–
mately from a state of being, an
individual essence. Most crim–
inals are prosecuted for what
they do ; queers, what they are.
Yet the real sorrow of the
queer situation is not in its ad–
verse social context, but in its
nature. One might call the ex–
clusive homosexual a "normal
abnormal": normal in that his
deviation is ancient and ubiqui–
tous, abnormal because his
natural life is marginal ; he can–
not be a father (and so never a
real son) , and he cannot even
find a lasting lover (since the
particular torture of a homo–
sexual's love is that he most
admires and covets a man who
does not love men) . Unless he
escapes at least into bisexuality,
his creative life has the severe
limitation that he is' doomed ·to
a half-ignorant, ill-proportirmed
vision of mankind: a closed–
c i r cui t view like Michel–
angelo's, wit h its disturbing
undue preoccupation of a great
spirit with the flesh. English
laws further distort this crippled
state of being-a situation Eng–
lishmen accept partly by genu–
ine indifference, partly because
of the vicious streak in com–
mercial Protestant cultures,
partly because of the unattrac–
tive "innocence" that allows so
many of our citizens to live long
lives wilfully unaware of what
happens
in
our country, and
153
outside it in our name. Of
course, this English insouciance
is one way of living with a social
complexity, if not of resolving
it. And of course in a balanced
view one must see that as social
problems go, the queers' prob–
lem doesn't matter very much.
But the strange speciality of
their state remains: the multi–
tudes of known yet conditionally
tolerated criminals, the harsh
sentences on those plucked for
public sacrifice, the extreme
contrast between private pre–
occupation and public silence–
except at moments when a Royal
Commission is appointed to
examine, analyze, and neglect.
Colin Macinnes
You'll discover exciting new
dimensions in your favorite
novels, in
-The==='
Tragic
==Vision=
by MURRAY KRIEGER
"
.... 'J'.
"',
J
- a telling analysis of the crisis–
mentality theme
in
10 great
novelists from Melville to Camus,
showing its special pertinence
today. 1960, 271 pp. $5.00.
Now at your bookstore
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
