The End is the Beginning

With The End of the World Book, author Alistair McCartney launches a dandy writing career

BY MICHAEL KEARNS

Alistair (that starts with A) McCartney manages to capture the Zeitgeist (that begins with Z) of being a “dandy of doom” in his maiden voyage as a literary figure to be taken seriously. In The End of the World Book, McCartney offers a 27-course meal of alphabet soup, with subjects ranging from Abercrombie and Fitch to Zeus.

Because of his hectic book tour, the Australian writer and I communicated by e-mail. McCartney lives in Santa Monica with his lover, Tim Miller, even though their domesticity is threatened because of the skewed immigration laws that LGBT people must endure when marriage is not an option.

FRONTIERS: Tell me about the process of writing The End of the World Book.

I had written a piece called Lust, and I found myself writing a big L in 72-sized font at the top of the page, just like you would see in the World Book Encyclopedia. Then I wrote a piece titled The World and stuck a big W at the top, then Boys, sticking the big B at the top of the page. Suddenly, all the pieces began to come together. I realized I needed to write my own encyclopedia, my own version or perversion of the World Book Encyclopedia.

I've heard your book referred to as “a novel.” It seems to cross into other literary terrain as well.

[It] is many things at once: a novel, an encyclopedia, memoir, cultural history, philosophy, poetry. I mingle and mash up all forms. I'm really interested in the space somewhere between fiction and nonfiction, where one uses one's own experience as the template, but drifts off into fiction—or goes back and forth. I almost always use real names and write about real events, but I consider this a work of fiction.

What is the significance of the double meaning of the title?

There's the obvious, that this is a book about the end of the world; this is my alphabetical guide to the apocalypse. But of course there's the other meaning: that this is a book not only about the end of the world, but literally the end of the World Book, that I am somehow writing a new kind of encyclopedia, one that doesn't presume to be objective, or fact-based—one that comes straight from the unconscious, from dreams. A more warped, twisted, perverse and queer kind of encyclopedia.

There's a sumptuously romantic entry in your book—between Milk Bottles and Minsk. Talk about Tim Miller's influence, beyond that of being your lover?

I love that characterization of that entry, because I do believe this book is drenched in romance and romanticism, as in, influenced by the romantic movement of the 18th century. I dedicate this book to Tim, and in the dedication I write that he's “essential” and I mean that utterly. He's been essential to my development as a gay man, as a human, and as an artist. He's taught me so many things, but I think most importantly: to take my own voice seriously, to trust it—which isn't always easy to do.

Has the immigration imbroglio made your relationship with Tim stronger?

I won't let these laws control my heart. I'm very clear that it's time for the U.S. to catch up with the rest of the world—the U.S. is one of the few remaining western countries that doesn't allow its citizens who are in same-sex relationships with foreigners to sponsor them for citizenship.

Talk about your dark camp sensibility.

I guess camp has always been dark, but I think that my book is almost post-camp as well—like Oscar Wilde writing his arch aphorisms post the experience of being gaoled (read: jailed), or camp under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic. I'm really interested in fusing opposites as a writer: traditional and experimental, melancholy and ironic—and I think this is what I'm doing here, mingling bleakness with wit.

There's a certain intellectuality in your book that avoids pretension, but doesn't avoid the notion that you come from a long line of literary dandies.

I feel very much a part of that pre-Stonewall queer voice—Genet, Mishima, and then further back, Mann, Proust, Welch, Gide, Wilde, Melville, Rimbaud, even Baudelaire's decadence. But I also feel very much part of a contemporary sensibility as well—hence all the pop culture references. I'm a dandy of the people!

Alistair McCartney will read from his book on April 27 at 6 p.m. at Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. $25 admission includes a hardback copy of the book. For more information, visit www.highwaysperformance.org.

LIMITED RUN

L.A. Times Festival of Books

The Festival of Books comes again to UCLA with a phenomenal literati lineup. Over the course of the festival, panelists include gay super-wit Gore Vidal, renowned author Ray Bradbury, and the always-glamorous Julie Andrews. UCLA. Apr. 26-27. www.latimes.com.

Philippe Grimbert

Philippe Grimbert comes to L.A. to present and sign his new novel Memory—the colossal European bestseller, examining his postwar Parisian upbringing, devastating family secrets, and his parents' joint suicide. Book Soup. Mon., Apr. 28. 7 p.m. www.booksoup.com.

Cathy Silvers

The Happy Days star reveals her transition from teen idol to organic health guru in her book Happy Days Healthy Living: From Sitcom Teen to the Health-Food Scene. A Different Light. Sat., May 17. 7:30 p.m. www.adlbooks.com.

Homo Must

Robert Julian

In his memoir Postcards from Palm Springs, Mr. Julian takes “America's gayest city” by storm, telling everything — from rent boys and nude resorts to Arnold Schwarzenegger — exactly like it is. A Different Light. Thurs., May 1. 7:30 p.m. www.adlbooks.com.