Hello Gentle Reader,
Gary Indiana was a legendary
figure of that otherwise that late mid-century modern bohemianism which
followed on the coat tails of Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation, a gritty
sustained and experimental counter-culture movement. The very same
counter-culture movement that is now only replicated in spirit with nostalgic forms,
lacking the teeth and grit of the former which gave it substantial character
through its ability to shock, offend, and dazzle readers and viewers with equal
curiosity and outrage. Gary Indiana dabbled in a variety of mediums, exploring
the creative limitations of each, be it photography, performing and acting, and
film, but Indiana will always be remembered as a savvy writer and cultural
critic, who captured in essence a culture careening towards the abyss, and the
chaos and ravages of the AID’s pandemic. “Horse Crazy,” is one such novel, recounting
the torturous discourse between pining loving obsession of a reasonably
successful writer for that of a handsome former addict and aspiring photographer.
It follows the usual tropes of the older vying for the love of the younger and
beautiful, but Indiana turned the trope towards dissecting the same-sex perspective
of the matter against the backdrop of AIDs. It’s a fever dream novel capturing
the narcotic nature of desire and its corrosive capabilities, in tandem with
the asphyxiating realities of obsession. “Horse Crazy,” employed Gary Indiana’s
signature style, a mixture of the sardonic and erudite, and delighted in the
air of scandal the novel provoked as it was framed as a roman à clef. Indiana’s
‘crime trilogy,’ (“Resentment: A Comedy,” “Three Month-Fever: The Andrew Cunanan
Story,” “Depraved Indifference,”) never quite took on the necrophiliac nature
of true crime, but captured the media’s ability to curate a celebrity culture
and turn a private horror and heinous crimes into a sensationalist form of
entertainment and market it as such. Gary Indiana is most endeared and
remembered for his work as the art critic for the legendary Village Voice
in the early 1980’s and his subsequent essays. The essay is where Gary Indiana
thrived. The essay is a form untethered from the structure and rules of poetry
and novels, and provided Indiana the space and platform to reach a new audience
and gain acclaim. Ironically, Indiana disparagingly hated art criticism and the
art world, which he viewed as nihilistically capitalistic. Throughout it all,
Gary Indiana remained a singular voice, who captured with wit and humour a
bygone era which has been recycled to a new generation, but is gilded with so
much nostalgia it’s now plasticine and soulless. Readers should not view Gary
Indiana as a time capsule writer of a fleeting cocaine fueled fever dream, but
a sardonic critic, who caustically critiqued American values and the octane
push of a culture towards the void, all with a sense of humour and a sense of
style, which understands not only the uniquely American condition, but the
human condition in an increasingly ‘post,’ prefix-oriented world.
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
M.
Mary
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