LIFE LESSONS

American queer literature author Edmund White

Writing A Saint From Texas taught me that my vast life experience in many different countries and decades could be captured, at least in part, in a novel.

YOU CAN READ

THROUGH YOUR

WRITING MANY, MANY

TIMES AND TAKE THE

ADVICE OF EDITORS

AND COPY- EDITORS AND FRIENDS AND THEN GO OVER IT WITH A WET BRUSH ( TO MAKE IT SOUND SPONTANEOUS) — AND THEN THROW IT INTO THE WORLD AND SAY TO YOURSELF, “THIS IS THE BEST I CAN DO.”

To write at my best, I make sure I’m rested but not fed, which makes me sleepy, and reading the best writers, so my standards don’t slip.

Of my own books, I’m most proud of Hotel de

Dream, which is the best constructed.

I DO READ REVIEWS OF MY BOOKS, THOUGH I DON’T DWELL ON THEM. I’VE LEARNED FROM THE BEST ONES.

As a person, I’m fairly likeable and as a writer, inspired by Colette, I depend heavily on charm, especially in memoirs.

Author of A Boy’s Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, The Farewell Symphony, and Our Young Man, Edmund White’s prose has been celebrated by critics, fans and his peers. “Edmund White is one of the best writers of my generation,” says fellow writer John Irving, while Patrick McGrath declares he is “one of the most brilliant and distinguished authors at work in America today”. White was named the 2018 winner of the PEN/ Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction and received the National Book Foundation’s 2019 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

His new book A Saint From Texas is published on 6 August by Bloomsbury Publishing.

OF MY PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS, I’M MOST PROUD OF FINANCIALLY HELPING FAMILY MEMBERS. ALSO, BEING THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE GAY MEN’S HEALTH CRISIS.

Let’s face it: most of our decisions are determined by circumstance and opportunity. But to the degree volition is concerned, I try to think of my life, not in immediate terms, but over the long haul.

WRITING A NOVEL IS A PROJECT THAT GIVES A SEMBLANCE OF CONTINUITY DURING OUR CHAOTIC TIMES.

I measure success by the esteem of my peers.

My biggest regret is that I went to the University of Michigan rather than Harvard. That disappointment taught me that after a decade it didn’t really matter.

The best piece of advice I received was when I was a neurotic, self- hating gay boy at 16 years old. A 45- year- old trick ( this was the 1950s) told me to get over myself.

The most inspirational person I have ever met is Albert Dichy, a Paris friend, who is brilliant without being pedantic, as boyish as when he was a boy, and as wise as a sage.

I AM AT MY HAPPIEST IN ROME. Sex brings me joy. An evening with a smart, affectionate friend. The best book I’ve ever read is Henry Green’s Nothing, because of its sly humour, perfect construction and fantastic buoyancy. Music stimulates me most, because it simultaneously gives an emotional rush and an intellectual high. WHAT DID I LEARN AFTER I HAD MY HEART BROKEN FOR THE FIRST TIME? TO WRITE ABOUT IT. The greatest gift my sexuality has given me is to befriend people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds. As a teenager, I thought being gay would deprive me as a writer of many experiences ( parenting, breeding, adultery), but seeing how people of every sort could identify with my characters has made me more confident. I’ve had 16- yearolds from Africa tell me, after reading A Boy’s Own Story, that my life was exactly like theirs.