Author Archives: Gabriel François

A new biography of C. P. Cavafy

Constantine Cavafy: A New Biography (G. Jusdanis and P. Jeffreys, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025) has been released recently. Its review in the TLS starts with: Constantine Petrou Cavafy (1863–1933): a poet of obscure history and an eroticism so gentle, … Continue reading

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Queer Lives : Joseph Lovett, 1945-2025

The New York Times, in an obituary published last week, Joseph Lovett, TV Producer Who Shed an Early Light on AIDS, Dies at 80, writes: As an openly gay producer, Mr. Lovett was a rarity in the broadcast news world of the … Continue reading

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Paul Yonnet on Gide

From Zone de mort, Stock, 2017 (not translated) : This book of correspondence ends with an excerpt from Paul Valéry’s Notebook 24. In it, he noted down a conversation he had just had with André Gide, in 1925. Gide, who was … Continue reading

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Queer Lives: Gilles Dowek, 1966-2025

The brilliant mathematician and computer scientist, an alumnus of the École Polytechnique, died of cancer in Paris on July 21, 2025, at the age of 58. In 2007, he published a fascinating short book on the history of mathematics: The … Continue reading

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An Art-Filled Weekend in Chicago 

Despite the ridiculous name change (Painting His World) – to make it more “inclusive” according to the Chicago curator Gloria Groom, I enjoyed the Caillebotte exhibition at the Art Institute (Painting Men). The focus and commentary beside the works remain … Continue reading

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Random Links 

How ‘Gay’ Became an Identity in Art: Two groundbreaking exhibitions in Chicago explore the shift in portrayals of same-sex attraction. They are being staged at a fraught moment. (New York Times) How a Times Reporter Eluded a Ban on the Word … Continue reading

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Cabinet secret

St Sebastian, Guido Reni, c. 1615, Musei di Strada Nuova, Genoa D’où la possibilité qui t’est donnée de te constituer dans chaque musée que tu visites ton cabinet secret personnel, accessible à tous, mais où nul à part toi et … Continue reading

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Random Links

La marche des fiertés 2025 par Willam Marx (Le Monde). He’s Here, He’s Queer, He’s the Future King of England, a new Off Broadway play (New York Times).

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Straight Acting: Queer Shakespeare

From the introduction (Prologue) of Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare, Will Tosh, Seal Press, 2024, the best book I have read on this topic: I don’t see the need to look for incontrovertible signs that Shakespeare the … Continue reading

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Yiyin Li remembers Edmund White

A friendship of voracious readers: https://yalereview.org/article/yiyun-li-edmund-white-tribute:

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