Date of Award
5-2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.F.A.
Degree Program
Creative Writing
Department
English
Major Professor
Justin Maxwell
Second Advisor
David Hoover
Third Advisor
Katie Garagiola
Abstract
Malone is a law-school dropout looking for love in all the wrong places in 1970s New York. But when you’re gay, sometimes the “wrong places” are the only places where love is allowed to blossom. In this queer kaleidoscope of disco havens, subway stations, and cruisy parks on the Lower East Side, one man’s journey in romance is emblematic of the gay coming-of-age experience. The other major player in Dancer is Sutherland, a drug dealer and socialite who dresses in elaborate costumes and flies off to South America to gamble. Malone and Sutherland’s friendship thrives under the artificial light of the mirror ball and the blare of Patti Jo over the Twelfth Floor’s speakers. Can their love of light and beauty feed Malone’s soul? Are features and surfaces enough? Or is he destined to feel alone forever despite his repeated collisions with love, sex, violence, and the Dance?
Recommended Citation
Rivera, Fernando Jr., "Dancer from the Dance: A Stage Adaptation of the 1978 Novel by Andrew Holleran" (2024). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 3140.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/3140
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Rights
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