BGSQDBureau of General Services—Queer Division
BGSQD
F. O. Matthiessen is one of the most famous people you’ve never heard of. A literature and history professor at Harvard from 1929 to 1950, he was also a gay man involved in a 20-year relationship with painter Russell Cheney, and a socialist activist often in association with organized labor. Suffering from depression, Matthiessen took his own life in April 1950 by jumping from a 12th floor window of a Boston hotel. Patrick E. Horrigan’s novel, American Scholar, uses Matthiessen’s scholarship and life as touchstones in his book, while Scott Bane’s double biography, A Union Like Ours: The Love Story of F. O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney, traces the arc of Matthiessen and Cheney’s relationship from their meeting in 1924 aboard the ocean liner Paris up until their respective deaths. Given the far-reaching influence of Matthiessen’s scholarship, his principled stands for greater socio-economic fairness, and his personal story that upheld love at the center of his life, Matthiessen continues to speak to us nearly 75 years after his death.
To reserve a copy of Scott Bane’s A Union Like Ours: The Love Story of F. O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney (Bright Leaf, 2022, paperback, $24.95) and/or Patrick E. Horrigan’s American Scholar (Lethe Press, 2023, paperback, $20) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.
Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
Suggested donation to benefit the Bureau: $10.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
Scott Bane’s stories have appeared in Into the Void and Christopher Street. The Boston Globe, The Huffington Post and Poets & Writers, among others, have published his journalism. Down East Magazine, The New England Journal of History, and The Gay and Lesbian Review have published his essays. Scott lives in New York City with his husband, David W. Dunlap.
Patrick E. Horrigan is the author of the novels Pennsylvania Station and Portraits at an Exhibition; the memoir Widescreen Dreams: Growing Up Gay at the Movies; the play Messages for Gary; and the solo show You Are Confused!, which he co-authored with his husband, Eduardo Leanez. His latest novel, American Scholar, won the Next Generation Indie Book Award for Best LGBTQ+ Fiction.