Mayflower Bookshop was jam-packed for this year’s Leiden Pride lecture on the legacy of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. The event attracted a varied audience of community members, students, and readers, and concluded with a lively discussion that reflected the continuing relevance of the topic.
Looi van Kessel PhD, expert on American queer literature at Leiden University, began his lecture with ACT UP, whose activism embodied the grief and anger of the time. From there, the focus shifted to literature written during the epidemic, including Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature, David Wojnarowicz’s Close to the Knives, Pamela Sneed’s Funeral Diva, and Hervé Guibert’s To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life. These works were presented as both testimony and resistance, capturing the pain of loss as well as the forging of solidarity.
Attention was also given to the broader social position of gay men, the inadequate government responses, and the coalitions formed across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. The subculture of barebacking, discussed with reference to Tim Dean’s Unlimited Intimacy, offered a striking example of how intimacy and risk were reimagined during the crisis. Intersectional perspectives, too often overlooked at the time, were underscored as vital for understanding the epidemic’s impact.
A poignant and thought-provoking evening at Mayflower!