WILL & GRACE
by Tison Pugh
Wayne State U. Press. 125 pages, $19.99
MAURICE
by David Greven
McGill-Queen’s Univ. Press.
183 pages, $19.95
CAN YOU IMAGINE an odder throuple? Two books that have on the surface nothing to do with one another and yet form a fascinating contrast. Maurice is the movie made by James Ivory and Ismail Merchant from E. M. Forster’s novel, which he wrote in 1913—before, one is amazed to learn, he’d ever had sex—but refused to publish in his lifetime, choosing instead to circulate it only among his friends. Will & Grace is an American sitcom that premiered in 1998 on NBC, ran for eight successful seasons, and then, when Trump appeared on the scene, was revived for three more less-than-stellar seasons. Maurice is placed by media professor David Greven in a tradition of melancholy and lyrical gay films exemplified by Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, and later Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name. Will & Grace’s pedigree is more I Love Lucy.
Andrew Holleran’s latest novel is The Kingdom of Sand (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022).
