CULTURE CLUB
The Swimming- Pool Library gives us a snapshot of two eras of gay history
The Swimming- Pool Library
There are certain things you can pretty much guarantee will crop up in an Alan Hollinghurst novel:
Rich- as- fuck people
Gay, but still referred to as homosexual, shenanigans
History stuff
All, you’ll be pleased to hear, do feature extensively in his 1988 debut novel, The Swimming- Pool Library. Alongside Patrick Gale and Sarah Waters, Hollinghurst has almost created a literary genre: the “queer historical epic,” and The SwimmingPool Library typifi es this niche.
William Beckwith ( rich- as- fuck name, right there) is a somewhat bored 25 year old who spends much of his time cruising at the Corinthian Club — aka The Corry – an exclusive member’s spa for other rich- as- fuck men. Will’s grandfather is a viscount so he isn’t unemployed as such, he just has no need to work.
While cottaging one evening,
Will comes to the aid of an elderly man who is possibly having a heart attack. He quickly learns this chap is Lord Charles Nantwich, another member of the Corry.
The two strike up a crossgenerational friendship, and Will is persuaded to put his brain to good use and write the older man’s memoirs.
From there, we compare and contrast the lives of the two men at their prime: both have a fondness for ( and, frankly, objectify) black men. While Will is able to bonk his way around London with, umm, gay abandon, Charles had to contend with World War II and draconian laws around “decency”.
Thirty years on from the novel’s publication, a whole new generation has been born and come of age, and the central theme of knowing your history is as relevant as ever. Although The Swimming- Pool Library doesn’t touch on Aids, ( Hollinghurst explores the Eighties in 2004’ s The Line of Beauty), it does examine the gulf between those who lived before partial decriminalisation in 1967 and those who have benefi tted from the sacrifi ces of people such as Charles.
Will’s six- year- old emerging gaylette of a nephew provides a future vision to consider, too: where are we going and where have we been? The novel encourages the reader to refl ect and to look forward.
The 25 year olds of today did not live through the worst of the HIVAids crisis, they weren’t schooled under Section 28, they have always had the same age of consent as straight people. Will Beckwith would now be almost 60, and I wonder what lessons he’d be able to teach them.
The Swimming- Pool Library is a poetic snapshot of two periods in the recent past, but also a cautionary tale about what happens if we neglect that history.
“The novel encourages the reader to refl ect and
to look forward”