Paul Monette

Monette on the cover of West of Yesterday, East of Summer

Paul Landry Monette (October 16, 1945 – February 10, 1995) was an American author, poet, and activist best known for his essays about gay relationships.^[1]

Life and career

Monette was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and graduated from Phillips Academy in 1963 and Yale University in 1967. Conflicted about his sexual orientation, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he taught writing and literature at Milton Academy. In 1978 he moved to West Hollywood with his romantic partner, lawyer Roger Horwitz. Monette's most acclaimed book, Borrowed Time, chronicles Horwitz' fight against and eventual death from AIDS. His 1992 memoir, Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, tells of his life in the closet before coming out, culminating with his meeting Horwitz in 1974.^[2] Becoming a Man won the 1992 National Book Award for Nonfiction.^[3] Monette also wrote the novelizations of the films Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Scarface (1983), Predator (1987) and Midnight Run (1988), as well as the novels Taking Care of Mrs. Carroll (1978), Afterlife (1990), and Halfway Home (1991).

Monette's final years, before his own AIDS-related death, are chronicled in the film Paul Monette: On the Brink of Summer's End by Monte Bramer and Lesli Klainberg.^[4] "By the end of his life, Monette had healed most of his psychic wounds, but his rage persisted."^[5] Monette died in Los Angeles, where he lived with his partner of five years, Winston Wilde.^[6] Monette was survived by Wilde; his father, Paul Monette Sr., and his brother, Robert L. Monette.^[7]

Monette's grave at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills

Monette-Horwitz Trust

Shortly before his death in 1995 Monette established the Monette-Horwitz Trust to commemorate his relationship with Roger Horwitz and to support future LGBT activism and scholarship. Monette's brother Robert served as the appointed Trustee until his death in 2015.^[8][9] Monette-Horwitz Trust Awards are given annually to individuals and organizations for their contribution to eradicating homophobia through their literary, scholarly, archival, or activist work. The award's 8-member advisory committee includes Monette's surviving partner, Winston Wilde, and the writer Terry Wolverton.^[10] The Lesbian Herstory Archives and the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives received the inaugural Monette-Horwitz Trust Awards in 1998. Other organizations which have since been recipients include Athlete Ally, Naz Foundation India, and the Addison Gallery of American Art.^[11] Among the individuals who have received the award are Sunil Pant,^[12] Lillian Faderman,^[13] Allan Bérubé,^[14] and Leslie Feinberg.^[15]

Bibliography

• Monette, Paul (1975). The Carpenter at the Asylum. Boston: Little, Brown. OCLC 1230675. (poetry)
• Monette, Paul (1978). Taking Care of Mrs. Carroll. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-57821-5. (novel)
• Monette, Paul (1979). The Gold Diggers. Los Angeles, New York: Alyson Classics Library. ISBN 1-55583-458-2 (novel)
• Monette, Paul (1981). The Long Shot. New York: Avon Books. ISBN 0-380-76828-3. (novel)
• Monette, Paul (1982). Lightfall. New York: Avon Books ISBN 0-380-81075-1 (novel, cover by Wayne Barlowe)
• Monette, Paul (1988). Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-113598-3. (memoirs)
• Monette, Paul (1989). Love Alone: Eighteen Elegies for Rog. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-01472-4. (poetry)
• Monette, Paul (1990). Afterlife. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-57339-3. (novel)
• Monette, Paul (1991). Halfway Home. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-58329-1. (novel)
• Monette, Paul (1992). Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-111519-2. (autobiography)
• Monette, Paul (1994). Last Watch of the Night. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-600202-7. (essay collection)
• Monette, Paul (1995). West of Yesterday, East of Summer: New and Selected Poems, 1973–93. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-13616-1. (poetry)
• Monette, Paul (1997). Sanctuary, A Tale of Life in the Woods. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0-684-83286-0. (novel)

References

1. Wilde, Winston Legacies of Love, The Haworth Press, ISBN , p174
2. Martinez, Gerard (October 11, 2005). "Becoming a Man looks at difficulties of gay lifestyle". The Daily Texan. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
3. "National Book Awards – 1992". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
   (With acceptance speech by Monette.)
4. Monte Bramer; Lesli Klainberg (1996). "Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
5. Holden, Stephen (February 6, 1998). "Paul Monette: More Active and Angry on the Way to the End". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
6. "One Person's Truth: The Life and Work of Paul Monette". UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library. 2005. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
7. Esther B. Fein (February 12, 1995). "Paul Monette, 49, Who Wrote of AIDS, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
8. Monette-Horwitz Trust (2015). About the Trust. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
9. Cook, Bonnie L. (9 May 2015). "Robert L. Monette, 63, instructor". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
10. Monette-Horwitz Trust (2015). Advisory Committee. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
11. Monette-Horwitz Trust (2015). Awardees. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
12. Cohen, Benjamin (22 April 2009). "Gay Nepalese MP looks towards greater acceptance of gays and lesbians". PinkNews. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
13. Gambone, Philip (2010). Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans. p. 110. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0299236838
14. Faderman, Lillian (2007). Great events from history: Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender events, 1848-2006, p. 524. Salem Press. ISBN 9781587652653
15. Wilson, John Morgan (29 April 2010). "2010 Monette-Horwitz Trust Award Recipients Announced". Lambda Literary Foundation. Retrieved 10 December 2015.

Further reading

Archival sources

• Paul Monette papers, 1945–1995 (26 linear feet) are housed at the Charles E. Young Research Library at the University of California at Los Angeles.

External links

• Monette Horwitz Trust
• 1990 and 1991 audio interviews of Paul Monette at Wired for Books.org with Don Swaim
• Visions of L.A. in the Age of AIDS: Paul Monette (kcet.org)