Quand Dennis Cooper parle de Guillaume Dustan

"Guillaume Dustan and catching up, pt. 2

Contributer emmanuel C alerted me to the fact that the french author Guillaume Dustan died this past weekend of what was described as an accidental overdose of a medication he was taking. He was 40. I have a feeling that many of you outside France don't know his work since, as far I can tell, only one of his novels was translated into English -- 'In My Room' (Serpents Tail). That's the only book of his I've read, and it's quite good. He was a curious fellow, at once a literary figure and an outspoken gay provocateur. He was notorious for, among other things, his promotion of bareback sex as a great, liberating thing, which I personally found kind of appalling. He was into pushing buttons, and, from what I gather, he was also a very good writer. I only met him once, but it was memorable. He was responsible for my book 'All Ears' being published here, and he came to my book signing to say hello. He was introduced to me as the guy who made the French 'All Ears' possible, whereupon he immediately threw a huge fit, and said to me, 'Of course they don't tell you that I'm the most important French writer of my generation!' Then he stormed out. He was a really colorful guy, and the deaths of people who make the world colorful are always really tragic. I wish I could speak more about his fiction, but maybe the French contributors can say something about that, if they know his work and feel like it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005"