Old and young gay

“Zigzag,” the titular final story, corrals characters from several other stories in the book into an art gallery opening reception in Dorchester. His sentences flow effortlessly in a conversational rhythm (either third person or first). The book focuses on old age, and the gay men in its pages reflect frequently on the past. They highlight that love, in all its forms, defies easy categorization.

He’s a frequent visitor to Provincetown and lives, during the colder months, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Gambone’s prose is clear and mostly unembellished with literary flourishes. People often ask, “What will you do if he gets sick?”—a question Felsenthal finds both insulting and absurd. Though much of gay life after Stonewall is defined by sexual liberation, Gambone is looking for a broader kind of fulfillment.

Indeed, the stories in this collection are tied together by more than just age, orientation, and proximity to the South End.

Religion often comes into play, as does social striving and the effects of gentrification. Besides, there’s a fair amount of unrequited attraction among his characters, and all of the sexually charged scenes, whether consummated or not, are really about character. Felsenthal notes that, unlike heterosexual intergenerational couples, which may be met with skepticism but some acceptance, gay intergenerational couples often face harsh scrutiny.

The mainstream gay culture, often centered around youthful beauty and muscle-bound figures, overlooks this subset of gay men who find beauty in age and experience. And the present, in life and in fiction, is open-ended.

This page is available to subscribers. Daniel Felsenthal, a 33-year-old man, provides a rare glimpse into this experience, sharing his journey of loving much older men, including his 77-year-old husband.

Zigzag is his second short-story collection (after The Language We Use Up Here), and he has also written a novel (Beijing) and some notable nonfiction: Something Inside: Conversations with Gay Fiction Writers;Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans; and a remarkable memoir, As Far as I Can Tell: Finding My Father in World War II, which I reviewed in the Provincetown Independent in 2021.

Then there’s the HR counselor Alan, in “Human Resources,” who lives in a bungalow in Mattapan with another single gay roommate in his 60s. Their regrets, yearnings, fears, and satisfactions are unique, because each person’s experience growing up with the shame of being queer and, as an adult, navigating the pitfalls of sexuality and romance, shapes the individual’s worldview in old age.

Which brings me to Zigzag, Philip Gambone’s marvelous new short story collection about aging gay men in the Boston area, particularly white men who spent their formative years in the South End.

The book makes it clear that personal liberation is a lifelong and universal pursuit.

Such wisdom might seem obvious, and it may elicit an unsympathetic “tut-tut” by those fed up with white male privilege.

Now retired, he spent his life teaching high-school English and college-level writing in the Boston area. He is strikingly efficient with detail and description, offering just enough about clothes, décor, and appearance to enhance one’s understanding of character and setting but not so much as to create an indulgent soup of symbolism.

This focus on Jeff’s potential health problems overlooks the strength and depth of their connection, and the profound way they complement each other emotionally and intellectually.

Intergenerational love stories like Felsenthal’s challenge the preconceived notions of relationships, particularly within the LGBTQ community. These fictional boomers are both proving and disproving the cliché that “old age isn’t for sissies.”

Gambone is an extraordinarily good writer, though his work has usually been relegated to the queer lit sections of bookstores and websites because of his subjects.

He recounts his early experiences at a bar where older men gathered, noting how these men, far from seeking validation, simply wanted to enjoy life without the pressure to conform to youthful ideals. Click here to sign in or get access.