The Pleasures of Time: Two Men, A Life

FROM THE PUBLISHER

American-born author Stephen Harold Riggins and French-born author and circus authority Paul Bouissac have been partners for over thirty years. The Pleasures of Time: Two Men, A Life is the story of their complex and fascinating relationship -- set in Paris, Toronto, Newfoundland and Indiana, with a cast of characters including celebrated musician John Cage and critics Allan Bloom, Michel Foucault and Claude Levi-Strauss -- but it is also much more.

Spanning over most of the past century, The Pleasures of Time is an important work that not only traces the growth of a committed gay relationship, but also charts the intellectual and artistic ferment of the 1970s and 80s. Riggins, who bases the book on diaries he has kept since the early 70s, recreates in expert sepia tones his life with Bouissac -- whether it is in the cafes of Paris, his home state of Indiana or the rural country circuses of 1960s southern Ontario.