The Mad Man

Samuel R Delany

ISBN 10: 1563331942 / ISBN 13: 9781563331947

Published by Richard Kasak Books, 1994

About this Item

1st edition, 1st printing; Signed by author on dedication page with inscription, "East Lansing '95"; Dust jacket not price clipped and very good with slight wear to upper edge and slight crease on inside flap; Boards near fine with one very small bump to bottom front cover edge and very small chip to bottom front cover corner; Pages unmarked

A philosophy student's research draws him into the sexual underground of 1980s and early nineties New York.

John Marr is surprised he doesn't have AIDS. He has been having near-daily sexual encounters with strange men since before the dawn of HIV, but he remains healthy. His initiation began in the bathroom of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, and since then he has found himself at home in the darkest corners of Manhattan's culture of anonymous gay sex. During the day, it is a different story, as Marr works on his graduate thesis?an analysis of the work of a brilliant 1970s philosopher who died mysteriously in one of the gay bars of Hell's Kitchen. As his research and his sex life begin to converge, Marr senses that if AIDS doesn't get him, something darker will.

The Mad Man, which the author dubbed a ""pornotopic fantasy,"" is more than a powerful work of philosophical erotica; it is a snapshot of a vanished moment in New York City's gay history, when fear and lust commingled in a single powerful force.".

Seller Inventory # ABE-1768198915166

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Mad Man
• Publisher: Richard Kasak Books
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1563331942
• ISBN 13: 9781563331947
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Weight: 2 pounds
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

For his thesis, graduate student John Marr researches the life and work of the brilliant Timothy Hasler--a philosopher whose career was cut tragically short over a decade earlier. Marr encounters numerous obstacles as other researchers turn up evidence of Hasler's personal life that is deemed simply too unpleasant and disillusioning for the rarified air of academe.

On another front, Marr finds himself increasingly drawn toward more shocking, depraved sexual entanglements with the homeless men of his neighborhood, until it begins to seem that Hasler's death might hold some key to his own life as a gay man in the age of AIDS. As John Marr learns more about the enigma that was Timothy Hasler, his own increasing sexual debasement leads him to a point where his and the philosopher's lives collide violently...

About the Author

Samuel R. Delany is a novelist and critic. His fiction includes Dhalgren (1975), the Return to Nevčr˙on series (1979-1987) and Atlantis: Three Tales (1995). His nonfiction writing includes The Motion of Light in Water (1987), Village Voice bestseller Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999) and 1984: Selected Letters (2000).

Winner of the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a Life-time’s Contribution to Lesbian and Gay Literature, he currently teaches at Temple University in Philadelphia.