Gordon Merrick: FORTH INTO LIGHT
Originally published in 1974, this concludes the gay
trilogy that began with The Lord Won’t Mind. Painter Charlie and art-dealer
Peter are spending another summer in their Greek island villa with Martha, by
whom they have each fathered a child. Martha is not the only woman in their
life: art historian Judy arrives to consult Peter about some paintings that may
be fakes. She inspires a heterosexual hiccup in Peter.
The paintings have been bought by celebrated New
York author Mike who is on the island visiting his friend George, a not-so-celebrated author
with a drinking problem and a rocky marriage. George’s teenage son Jeff thinks
he may be gay and develops crushes on Mike and our two heroes (and one of the
natives).
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| Gordon Merrick |
Large dollops of sex are duly introduced as Jeff
works his way through his crushes. And Peter consummates his heterosexual
hiccup with Judy in scenes that veer between Barbara Cartland daintiness – “He opened his mouth, and she gave him hers”
- and cinematic hardcore. Charlie is not simply well-hung; his endowment is “prodigious”. Graphic – not to say
pornographic – sex is Gordon Merrick’s trademark, though I wonder if gay and
straight porn belong in the same book: is there a demand for “bi-porn”? Aside from the sex, which comes close to the “classic”
turgidity of the Song of the Loon trilogy, the book consists of long –
even tedious – conversations about love and fidelity. There’s a “MacGuffin”
involving a missing wad of dollars which, with the extended dialogue, has echoes
of one of Terence Rattigan stodgier dramas. The debate about the “openness” of
many gay relationships is an interesting one, to which Merrick makes a
thoughtful contribution. Forth Into Light brings his ultra-erotic trilogy to
an uneven climax (if I may use that word).
