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Paperback
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
William D. Fellows
First time in paperback, with a newly designed cover. Homosexuality is often seen as a purely urban experience, far removed from rural and small-town life. Farm Boys undermines that cliche by telling the stories of more than three dozen gay men, ranging in age from 24 to 84, who grew up on farms in the American midwest. Named among the best books of 1996 by Esquire Magazine and the Minneapolis Star Tribune
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| Smashing the Stereotype |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Fellows, William D. "Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest", University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.
Smashing the Stereotype
Amos Lassen
The stereotype that gay culture is urban culture is smashed in Will Fellows "Farm Boys" as it looks at the stories of gay men who live in rural America. Fellows has collected stories that expand the identity of gay culture in America. The gay lifestyle that comes to most people is one that comes from the media and other cultural images that seem to come from the urban centers of the East and West coasts of the United States. This indeed limits perspective and even though we are aware that homosexuals live everywhere, we seem to somehow forget about them.
Fellows decided to have a look at the Midwest and explore the diverse communities there and he gives us a series of autobiographical narratives by gay men who were raised in the heartland over during the twentieth century (from 1909 through 1967). We, in turn, get a look at some powerful and poignant voices. There are issues of desire and location and we broaden out concept of identity and cultural practices. The book undermines the idea and homosexuality is an urban experience by giving us the stories of over 30 gay men who grew up in the American Midwest.
This is a study of identity and how some people achieve individuality. Some of the narratives are simple and raise spirits while others are quite angry. They represent all factions of the gay community and experience while showing that the men here belong to their own faction. Their language represents their environments and I found them to be very sensitive and moving.
"Farm Boys" is an honest overview of how life is for many gay Americans. The stories both fascinate and educate and these men have been disregarded for too long. We see the positive aspects of living rurally and it certainly gives us a look at an aspect of gay life that we need to be more aware of.
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| A superb reflection |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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It's not about being gay, or living on a farm, or growing up in rural areas where your entire life is centered on a small representation of what is available. It's about identity, about what molds some people into the individuals they become. The stories run the gamut from simple and uplifting, to long and angry, representing factions within the gay community without being held back by the knowledge that it's a faction of its own. It's next to impossible not to be moved by them, and even harder not to reach a keener insight into American rural culture throughout the twentieth century. The ambling nature of the prose is a superb reflection of not only the older generations represented within the interviews, but of the environment within which they were raised.
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| an interesting collection of memoirs from America's heartland |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I was curious to read Farm Boys after hearing that Ang Lee had given Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal copies of it before filming Brokeback Mountain. And I certainly respect William Fellows and all the contributors for creating a truly unique work, an honest overview of how life was for many gay American men living in the rural midwest. This book relies heavily on the personal memoirs of a couple dozen gay men looking back on their upbringing on the farm. Because so much of it comes from individual, anecdotal accounts with only a few short chapters of analysis by Mr. Fellows, I didn't feel like I actually learned that much about the overall trends and historical changes in rural gay life. I realize that William Fellows had to make due with the scant information he had (Fellows advertised for contributors to his project, and just over 100 gay men from midwest farms responded), and that would have made sweeping generalizations or hard demographical data pretty much impossible to reliably create. But I did enjoy reading these stories, and I recommend it to anyone, gay or straight, who is interested in getting a better sense of what life was really like for regular Americans living in rural America in the middle of the century.
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| The Way They Were |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Thousands of gay men have moved to and live in big city gay communities, but no one is ever born there. Almost all were born in smaller towns or on the country farms of America. This book is the separate accounts of gay men who grew up on farms in the Midwest. A surprising number chose to stay in the rural community or small towns near his roots. Each chapter (some very short) is written by the man himself. The chapters are arranged by the age of the men. Consequently, those born before the sexual revolution of the 1960s suffered the loneliness of not knowing that there were other men like them. I recommend it both for those who were raised in a rural community and for those those who have never seen a farm or know its rigors.
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| Enjoyable Reading |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I really enjoyed reading this collection of stories very much and learned quite a bit about lives of gay men who grew up on farms. Some of them went into more detail about farm life than others--some of them told more about their lives AFTER leaving the farm, but all in all they were real interesting. I've got to hand it to every one of them, I don't know if I could have 'cut it' on a farm. Suppose I wouldn't of had a choice if I had been born to a farm family--but I certainly do see where these fellas have a 'hard row to hoe' (yes, a pun but still serious) because if they DO like farm life, they wouldn't have such a good life being gay. So I can see where most of them would end up leaving. How could you live an open life?? I think someone growing up on a farm would have a much stronger viewpoint on life. It would be kind of like growing up during the Depression at any age or time period. So physical and demanding--nothing happening or getting done unless YOU do it!! Not like the urban city life I was born into. I really hand it to farm people and gained a new respect for them. They can proclaim like the Marines...."the few, the proud".
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