24.| Out in the Mountains |November 2000 =a&e= seeming simple-minded. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the novel that I realized how powerfully affecting—and tragic——his I’ve long admired Edmund White; his views on gay culture are never less than witty storytelling can be. THE STORY IGHT .I\ N 0 COLM Vf.l. T(/)lBlN EURIDPE from $449 Austria from $430 ARUBA 7 Nights Hotel / Airfare Czech Rebu lic from $388 England P from $23 8 from $549 , EANCUN O France from $328 7 Nights Hotel / Airfare 7Y9 I ' Netherlands from $338 lg ts ore /Airfare I Italy from $398 THANKSGIVING IN ICELAND from $549 - = To learn Scotland from $238 11/22/00 - 11/26/00 ..... ..Roundtrip Airfare / Hotel Accommodations / I more alum]; Spam from $358 Transfers / Thanksgiving Dinner / Sightseeing / Breakfast daily 2 ' H|V testing THANKSGIVING IN LONDON from $499 E: . Benems 0' :1§1I£’.3;1(:0 gepalrzure .... ..Rc:jundtrip Aisréare / Meet 86 Greet in London / 0 knowing your Chlcago from $178 Dailifl ;aX:Ste/ Sic}:)S:ierirIi1o ations at . JAMES PLAZA / Breakfast 3 HIV Sm", Eortéauderdale from g g I _ as 6835 mm NEW YEARS EVE IN LONDON from 699 3‘) T'°‘“"'°'“'d I-0.5 Aflr‘-3.6165 from $198 12/26/00 - O1/02/01...Roundtrip Airfare / Transfers / 6 Nights$Hotel Q supiwn un Miami from $176 Accommodationsl Much More : Iollllselillg New Orleans from $167 3 options Phoenix from $198 ST. MARTIN from $799 2 Seattle from $193 7 Nights Hotel / Roundtrip Airfare / Transfers :1: San Fransico from $198 ' Cull Vennom Call 1-800-504-9075 0 20 Melrose St., Boston MA AIDS Holline All rates based on availability and are subject to change. I -300-882-AIDS OF THE and wise. While his trailblazing importance as one of the first out gay writers is indis- putable, I’ve sometimes found his prose style a bit rococo for my tastes. In recent years, his work has increasingly blurred the line between fiction and autobiography. White’s uncharacteristically spare new novel, The Married Man (Knopf, 2000), though told in the third person, very closely parallels his relationship with French illus- trator I-Iubert Sorin. I’d heard him recount the story of his lover’s death in Morocco, but that hardly prepared me for the harrow- ing suspense of the novel’s finale. No one writes about AIDS with brighter clarity and less sentimentality than White. Throw into the mix pithy social commentary, keen analyses of sexuality and aging, and master- fully sensuous visual details and you realize how lucky we are-that White is still with us, still writing. IMAGE ATTITUDE There are no happy endings—yet—in the literature of the AIDS epidemic. What these five novels share, however, beyond a will- ingness to tackle head-on a subject matter many would rather deny, is a quality that makes them life-affirming even as they ele- gize. There are others I’ve missed, more to come, prayers for a happy ending, promises not to forget. V BY .\ l?llI.l. .\'l:l{\'l('l; \f\l.().\' Hlih i ‘liiircli \ti‘ct-t I-iiirliiiutnii l\t‘l'()~-ll't)ll1(il_\ Hall) (802,) s