The mad man - SFBA Book Club

501 pages

English language

Published Dec. 26, 1994 by A Richard Kasak Book, published by Masquerade Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-56333-193-0
OCLC Number:: 30629151

(1 review)

For his thesis, graduate student John Marr researches the life and work of the brilliant Timothy Hasler--a philosopher whose career was cut tragically short over a decade earlier. Marr encounters numerous obstacles as other researchers turn up evidence of Hasler's personal life that is deemed simply too unpleasant and disillusioning for the rarified air of academe. On another front, Marr finds himself increasingly drawn toward more shocking, depraved sexual entanglements with the homeless men of his neighborhood, until it begins to seem that Hasler's death might hold some key to his own life as a gay man in the age of AIDS. As John Marr learns more about the enigma that was Timothy Hasler, his own increasing sexual debasement leads him to a point where his and the philosopher's lives collide violently...

4 editions

Dysmorphia reviewed The Mad Man by Samuel R. Delany

Review of 'The Mad Man' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Imagine if 120 Days of Sodom was consensual and had a happy ending, and was set in New York City. My rough estimate is that this books about half sex by volume, maybe more. There's a lot of philosophy, and also a murder mystery. If you don't have the stomach to read about explicit sex acts that focus on the dirty (as in unwashed, not immoral) aspects of human sexuality, then this is not the book for you. There's no way for me to really tell you about what the book is about without myself getting scatalogical, which is a sign of a really dirty porno book, which this is. But it's also a philosophy book. It's one long rebel cry against propriety. Actually it's probably more like Juliette, except for gay sex. I mean it's the happy story of a gay guy who does all the sex stuff …

Imagine if 120 Days of Sodom was consensual and had a happy ending, and was set in New York City. My rough estimate is that this books about half sex by volume, maybe more. There's a lot of philosophy, and also a murder mystery. If you don't have the stomach to read about explicit sex acts that focus on the dirty (as in unwashed, not immoral) aspects of human sexuality, then this is not the book for you. There's no way for me to really tell you about what the book is about without myself getting scatalogical, which is a sign of a really dirty porno book, which this is. But it's also a philosophy book. It's one long rebel cry against propriety. Actually it's probably more like Juliette, except for gay sex. I mean it's the happy story of a gay guy who does all the sex stuff that's immoral in the good gay guy next door who just wants to be married narrative. The story is queer as hell. It's not a book for everyone, but maybe it's a book for you. I guess this whole review is the literary equivalent of "smell this, it's disgusting!".

All that said, I enjoyed reading it.