Description
A scintillating, richly peopled, impeccably researched history of the New York coastal enclave that, over the last century, became an iconic site of queer liberation
About the Author
Born in 1992 in Milton Keynes, Jack Parlett is a poet and scholar. He holds a PhD from Cambridge University on the poetics of cruising in queer American poetry, and is now a Junior Research Fellow in the English faculty at University College, Oxford. His debut poetry pamphlet was published in 2020 and his writing has appeared widely, including in Poetry London, Cambridge Humanities Review and Literary Hub.
Reviews
A beautiful, beguiling journey to the ultimate queer utopia, a site of riotous hedonism, wild creativity and immense loss. Fire Island is a fascinating, throbbing history that asks the most urgent of contemporary questions: what does paradise look like, and who does it exclude? -- Olivia Laing
The zingy tale of one magnetic place - as well as a sprawling rumination on the intertwined urges to get away and get together. Clued-up but insatiably thirsty, poignant, packed with literary intrigue, Fire Island is a beaming beach read -- Jeremy Atherton Lin
A compelling social history. Parlett beautifully conjures Fire Island as myth, metaphor and microcosm of queer culture -- Michael Bronski, author of A Queer History of the United States
[A] fascinating and thought-provoking social history and personal memoir... Based on an impressive depth of research, Fire Island is a compelling, richly detailed book about this curious, hurricane prone, fragile and complicated little gay utopia * Attitude *
Beautifully written ... Parlett evocatively captures the magic of bygone heydays, reminding us of 'the vital need for inclusive queer spaces of our own' * Culture Whisper *
Deeply felt and keenly judged... An intimate history, alive to the importance of dress, sex, bodily alteration, insobriety and dance * TLS *
Book Information
ISBN 9781783787005
Author Jack Parlett
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Granta Books
Publisher Granta Books
Weight(grams) 383g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 135mm * 19mm