James McCourt (writer)

James McCourt (born 1941) is an American writer and novelist.

Contents

Life

McCourt is openly gay.[1] His life partner since 1964[2] is novelist Vincent Virga;[3] they met in graduate school at Yale.[2]

Work

McCourt is best known for his extravagant 1975 novel Mawrdew Czgowchwz, about a fictional opera diva, and his 2003 nonfiction book Queer Street, about gay life in New York City after World War II. His latest novel, Now Voyagers, is the first in a series of projected sequels to Mawrdew Czgowchwz.

Acclaim

McCourt has garnered praise from critics Susan Sontag and Harold Bloom, and has recently been championed by author Dennis Cooper. Sontag directed McCourt's first novel, Mawrdew Czgowchwz, to her publisher's attention,[3] while Bloom named a later work, Time Remaining to his influential Western Canon.[4] Mawrdew Czgowchwz was brought back in print in 2002 with a new introduction by Wayne Koestenbaum.

Bibliography

Fiction

Nonfiction

References

  1. ^ Queer Street, pg. 5
  2. ^ a b http://www.vincentvirga.com/ accessed April 14, 2009
  3. ^ a b Foley, Dylan. The Advocate, March 5, 2002 Opera soap: author James McCourt enjoys the encore publication of the zany opera novel he wrote two decades ago
  4. ^ Bloom, Harold. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. Appendixes. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994. Chaotic Canon

External links

Critical

Interviews

Fiction