Scott Symons
Hugh Brennan Scott Symons (b in Toronto, Ontario 13 Jul 1933 – d in Toronto, Ontario 23 Feb 2009) was a Canadian writer. Born into a wealthy family, he attended a number of private schools, the University of Toronto, Cambridge University and the Sorbonne. A rising star of Canadian literature in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he wrote two novels with homoerotic themes before leaving Canada to live in Morocco.[1]
He was openly gay[2] at a time when this was very difficult, publishing his first novel, Place d'Armes, which dealt directly with homosexuality, two years before gay sex was decriminalized in Canada. He was an avid diarist and many of his observations and episodes from his life found their way into his novels.[3]
He died in Toronto at the age of 75.[4]
Symons is the subject of a documentary film, God's Fool (1998), by Nik Sheehan.[5]
Bibliography
- Place d'Armes (1967)
- Civic Square (1969)
- Heritage: A Romantic Look at Early Canadian Furniture (1971)featuring photographs by John de Visser and a preface by George Grant
- Helmet of Flesh (1986)
- Dear Reader: Selected Scott Symons (1998)ed. Christopher Elson
References
- ↑ W. H. New, Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2002. ISBN 0802007619.
- ↑ Goldie, Terry (2003), Pink Snow: Homotextual Possibilities in Canadian Fiction, Broadview Press, p. 114, ISBN 1-55111-373-2
- ↑ Google groups (alt.obituaries) "Scott Symons; He dreamed of writing the Great Canadian Novel, but he will be remembered most for his outrageous lifestyle and rough personality (Great)", by Sandra Martin
- ↑ Levin, Martin. "Scott Symons, novelist, dies at 75". The Globe and Mail, February 23, 2009.
- ↑ Nik Sheehan, "Scott Symons blew the hinges off the closet door". Xtra!, March 12, 2009.
- Dictionary of Literary Biography Volume 53: Canadian Writers Since 1960, Page 358
- Young, Ian. "A Whiff of the Monster: Encounters with Scott Symons." Encounters with Authors. Toronto: Sykes Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-9695286-2-3
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