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A Wild Swan

Like James Marshall, Michael Cunningham is a gay artist. Like Marshall, Cunningham is especially interested in how people talk to each other.

Cunningham's most-recent book--"A Wild Swan"--uses fairy tales to examine Cunningham's favorite subject, the complexities of modern marriage, modern dating. (Which other gay artist has a major interest in fairy tales? Stephen Sondheim.)

My favorite of Cunningham's re-tellings involves Snow White, and it's a story called "Poisoned":

_You wanted to last night.
_And tonight, I don't think I want to.
_Why, exactly, is that?
_It's weird. Don't you think it's at least a little bit weird? And I'm, well, getting tired of it.
_When exactly did you change your mind?
_I didn't. Okay, I'm tired of pretending that I'm not tired of doing it.
_Is it because of that apple joke, today at the market? Did that bother you?

We don't quite know what we're reading, at first, but soon enough things are clear. The Prince isn't actually drawn to Snow White. He just has a weird fetish about making out with a pseudo-corpse. Ever since Snow White has teamed with the Prince, the Prince has been forcing Snow White to take just a small bit of poison regularly, to re-enter her corpse state (for sex).

Snow White is "poisoned"--for erotic reasons--but, also, it seems that the relationship itself is poisoned. "I'm tired of pretending that I'm not tired of doing it."

Do you have to be a gay reader to appreciate Cunningham's dark, dark humor? Probably not. But it doesn't hurt.

Recommended reading.
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