Michael Henderson on Radio

Not having a gay old time

DOES THE SEXUALITY of an artist matter? Do we derive particular meaning from a book or a painting if we know its creator is homosexual? Noel Coward is best known for Private Lives; Tennessee Williams for A Streetcar Named Desire. Both are tales of marital tension (after a fashion) written by homosexuals. Does it count? Only to those who, yelling “cultural appropriation”, like to scale the ramparts and summon the mob. Cultural appropriation, a silly phrase favoured by dullards, has been going strong since the Pharaohs. “If you’re gonna steal,” Leonard Bernstein told a friend, “steal classy.” Lenny, according to that friend, had borrowed from Stravinsky for West Side Story. So what if he did? The world is a better place for the theft. Tchaikovsky: a composer, or a homosexual…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, August - September 2023

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