Gay & Lesbian

In a recent interview, Bruce Benderson claimed to have had sex with

over 4,000 men. What makes this figure even more remarkable is that the

men Benderson usually chooses to have sex with don’t even think of

themselves as gay. Either there’s a lot of self-delusion out there, or

our Bruce is one hell of a charmer.

Writer, translator and

somewhat controversial gay journalist, Benderson’s passion for

‘straight’ men informs much of his writing. One man in particular was

the inspiration for this prize-winning tale of unrequited love. On

assignment in Budapest, Benderson meets Romalus, a ‘child of the last

years of Communism’ with ‘eyes hollowed by hunger and fatigue’. A

hustler half the writer’s age, Romalus isn’t exactly boyfriend

material. But that doesn’t stop Benderson from falling hopelessly in

love. Soon they’re lying in bed watching German porn movies together –

a sure sign of a doomed romance. They arrange to meet the following

morning, but Romalus fails to show up.

When Benderson finally

bumps into him, the Romanian claims to have been waiting outside the

hotel. Then he tells the writer that his girlfriend has been stabbed,

and asks him to wire him some money. Most people would have run a mile

by now, but not Benderson. Returning to Manhattan, he thinks about

Romalus constantly. He also develops an obsession with Romania itself:

its culture, customs, and the sex life of its last king, Carol II.

Returning to Budapest to pursue the object of his affection,

Benderson’s mental state slowly deteriorates. He numbs himself with

codeine and, in what must surely rank as the ultimate humiliation, he

agrees to translate Celine Dion’s biography.

More than simply a

memoir, this is an extraordinary book: part travelogue, part love

letter, politically incorrect and painfully honest. If Lord Alfred

Douglas had been a Romanian prostitute, ‘De Profundis’ might have read

something like this.