Cracks in the Iron Closet: Travels in Gay and Lesbian Russia FROM THE PUBLISHER
When David Tuller went to Russia in 1991 with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, he arrived with the idea that he would be helping "liberate" lesbian and gay Russians, helping them explore without shame or fear their repressed sense of sexual identity. Within a few days Tuller realized that the Russians he met knew exactly who they were - and that they could teach him a few things about who he was, too. Through a series of extended visits over the next five years, he delved into the often hidden, yet richly varied, emotional and sexual lives of Russian lesbians and gay men. Cracks in the Iron Closet is part travelogue, part social history and journalistic inquiry, and part offbeat love story. Tuller's experiences also shed light on issues that have roiled the American lesbian and gay movement in recent years: How does culture influence the expression of sexual identity? Is bisexuality a fraudulent pose or a genuine orientation? What "causes" homosexuality anyway? Cracks in the Iron Closet provides the first glimpse into the culture of Russian lesbians and gays as they speak frankly to Tuller about their lives, their loves, and the influence of the state while challenging his assumptions about what it means to be gay.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
A travelogue and social history surveying the emotional and sexual lives of homosexual Russians. (Sept.)
Library Journal
Few documents of the treatment of homosexuals under Communist regimes exist, and there is no journalistic survey of gays in Russia in the late 20th century. Tuller, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, addresses the gap with a flawed mixture of travelog, social history, and personal journal. His work is most engaging when describing and directly quoting the myriad individuals Tuller met over the course of several trips to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and places farther afield in the early 1990s. Their perspectives hint at how myopic a North American, identity politics-based understanding of homosexuality may be. At other times, unfortunately, Tuller himself falls victim to that very myopia, and his analysis can be condescending. Moreover, the interjection of personal elementsincluding a budding ardor for a lesbian guide and disturbing descriptions of dreamsare more likely to make readers question the narrator's competence than draw them into the story. Patrons of larger gay studies and Slavic studies collections will make use of the more objective portions of the book; general collections would be better served by Reinaldo Arenas's poetic Cuban memoir Before Night Falls (LJ 9/15/93).Douglas McClemont, New York
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