Tony Duvert, the most infamous French gay writer since Jean Genet, died in July this year.
A writer criminally undertranslated and consequently barely known in the primarily English-speaking areas of the world… Duvert is one of the more significant and idiosyncratic contemporary French fiction writers. He’s also one of the most mysterious. – Dennis Cooper
An advocate of adolescents’ and even children’s rights to sex, Tony Duvert can be seen as a symbol for the sexually liberal seventies. – Destroyer Blog
Dennis Cooper made an extensive blog post about Duvert with “two exclusive excerpts and a jumble of almost everything I could find online either by or about him in English” so don’t miss that one!
I did not know anything about Tony Duvert. But, I have read Genêt, Gide, Wilde, DeLaclos, Peyrefitte, Duras, Yourcenar, Cocteau, etc. So, I have ordered a bokk by Duvert, « Quand mourut Jonathan ». I can’t wait to go and get it at the local bookstore. I hope I’ll like his style. Thank you for introducing me to that French author. Claude
It’s amazing how many people never heard of Tony Duvert.
Tony Duvert is not the only death in the family lately; the excellent blog you have a link to http://boyvideos.ws has also been put to death by its blogmeister along with his other two sites.
The thing about “Boyvideos” was that he had an excellent selection of great video clips. I once when through his entire archive and saved maybe 10% of what he had posted. Since I am pretty jaded and demanding in my taste, that is a fantastic percentage for me. I am going to miss his work. Shit! Bummer! I hope he decides to come back soon!
RIP Tony Duvert
Have you noticed that the excellent blog http://boyvideos.ws which you have a link to has been killed by its creator? He also took down his other two sites too. They were really exceptional and I will desperately miss the beauties he posted.
Would someone recommend a good beginning book by Duvert that has been well-translated that could probably be ordered through, say, Amazon? I’d appreciate it. Thanks for all the other references to other authors, btw, Malcolm Z, I will look around and see what I can find to read from a few of these authors, too.
this is from boyvideos posted September 6th
“ok…a little more info…i’m looking into some options regarding the future of the blog. It WILL return soon..but I need to clarify some technical details first. Boyvideos will be back hopefully better and bigger than before….so don’t give up. I just need to sort out some technical stuff first. The upside is that my best sponsors have given some great content to make Boyvideos even better…so keep an eye on the site for future updates….. xxx “
Recently, the essay «Good sex illustrated» has been published by Semiotext(e) (November 30, 2007) and is reasonably priced, ISBN 1584350431. The translations of the novels «When Jonathan died» and «Strange landscape» date from the 1970s and are quoted at Amazon’s for about $200 and $50, resp.
Perhaps it would be cheaper and more rewarding to learn French? Duvert is a pleasure to read, « Paysage de fantaisie », lacking any punctuation, makes also a good trainer for French grammar.
I read him only for pedagogical reasons, of course.
Hi Matt R.
I guess you are the blogmeister of “boyvideos”. That is great news that you are going to be starting up again! I really like the smooth and pretty boys you have posted. The fems and goths interest me less, so I really look forward to your blog starting up again. We share a lot in common in our tastes. I have never found a blog with such a high percentage of exactly what I like.
This saturday 20. arte.tv will show L’île atlantique
Tony Duvert was, as is known amongst writers of the period, one of Frances greatest writers. Just that no one can admit it: he liked young boys – todays’ biggest curse and taboo.
He died in abject solitude and poverty, alone, his body found only 4 weeks after he died.
He won one of Frances highest prize (medicis) for a book on a very controversial theme, even then. It proves both the extraordinary talent he had to be offered the prize despite the public outcry, and a sign of the times also.
Another tribute to his art is that his books, at least 3 or 4 of them survived the witch hunt (of all artists and their works who dared to suggest children and adolescents have a sexuality that likes to express itself),and he was never taken off the shelves in France, his book always available at the FNAC’s for instance.
I knew him through a friend of his, and after major successes, and having foretold the moral regression that would push his sexual liberation ideals, he, completely helpless, saw his worst nightmares come more real than he feared. From 1990 he closeted himself in the countryside (the same as in ‘When Jonathan died’?), and let himself die slowly.
It will need our society to come out of this absurd sexual hysteria (which it will), in a more natural society, before his talent will be remembered: he was a truly outstanding writer. ‘Quand Mourut Jonathan’ (when jonathan died) is a late work, and written in the most completely pure, honest and astoundingly evocative style. It remains (even though I didnt share his ideal love) one of the most moving books I have read to date, and strongly recommend reading the french version, but also the english version-which is particularly well translated.
The same thing, by the way, is happening to photographer Bernard Faucon.
I read « Quand mourut Jonathan » a few weeks ago. The only work by Duvel I ever read. I enjoyed it very much. Extremely well written. I realized that the theme was an older man, somehow isolated, who enjoyed the presence in his house (was it a house?) of a very special young boy. They both became intimate. It was pure poetry: the story, the relationship, the literary style. It was beautiful. Thank you. Claude