A comical and poignant memoir of a gay man living life as he pleased in the 1930s In 1931, gay liberation was not a movement—it was simply unthinkable. But in that year, Quentin Crisp made the courageous decision to "come out" as a homosexual. This exhibitionist with the henna-dyed hair was harrassed, ridiculed and beaten. Nevertheless, he claimed his right to be himself—whatever the consequences. The Naked Civil Servant is both a comic masterpiece and a unique testament to the resilience of the human spirit. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

This book dramatically documents the past century of change in gay life through quotations, arranged by subject, from sources as diverse as Aristotle and Woody Allen.

English writer and raconteur Quentin Crisp (1908-1999) became a celebrity and gay icon at the age of 60 with the publication and televising of his 1968 memoir, The Naked Civil Servant. Unapologetically unconventional, he filled books and articles with his witticisms and opinions on popular culture, and packed theaters worldwide with his one-man show An Evening with Quentin Crisp. This biography chronicles Crisp's life, including his birth in pre-World War I England; his life as a gay youth on the streets of London; his early attempts at writing and job-seeking; his entry into the world of modeling; and his sudden success late in life. With this definitive chronicle, Quentin Crisp and his unique worldview are once again on display.

Since moving to New York City over a decade ago, Quentin Crisp has brought his love of the cinema and his notorious wit together in a series of essays on films and film stars. A veteran film-goer of seventy years who has kept a vigilant eye on changing Hollywood styles and the public tastes that follow, Mr. Crisp discusses both films and stars with his typical panache and dexterity and leads his readers with polite madness to a clear, straightforward moral, proving himself to be an unexpected champion of good sense. Along the way Mr. Crisp shares his personal encounters with the likes of Lillian Gish, John Hurt, David Hockney, Divine, Sting, and Geraldine Page. Prefaced by longer essays on the essence of stardom, the nature of Hollywood, and the deplorable state of that town today, Mr. Crisp's book is a delight to read.

Andrew Hahn's God's Boy grapples with the fallibility of the body and desire in the ex-Christian tradition. A commentary on the church's toxic masculinity, the speaker reconciles his worship between dad/dy and God, seeking a loving mirror for the queer body. These poems deftly negotiate the cartography of absence; they're at once a primer on both solitude and abundance. Hahn queers the church-indoctrinated masculine, stating, "boys are not born w a bud in one hand & a dick in the other / boys are born crying." He shows us there's a space for these boys and finding it feels like Heaven.

This delightful gem is based on Crisp's diary in "The New York Native". His affecting words cover topics from politics to prejudice, from the human spirit to the individual obstacles he faces every day in his solitary life.