Back

Radiant Days

Author: Elizabeth Hand
Copyright: 2012

Setting Year: 1978
Setting Decade: 1970s
Main Themes: Gay Culture, Teen Lives
Excerpt: David's thick Brooklyn accent gave way to a goofy foghorn laugh at odds with his fey appearance. "Listen, I'm meeting someone--want to walk with me?" -- "Yeah, sure. Where are you going?" -- "Pied du Cochon." David grinned at Arthur. "C'est un bistro, tres bien. It's open all night, maybe we can get some food." We headed up Wisconsin. Being with David seemed to confer a sort of invisibility--the few people we passed probably thought we were panhandlers. He talked animatedly about the movies he'd just seen--he'd been in the Biograph since 3:00 that afternoon--but was cagey about who he was going to meet. I understood why when we entered the restaurant, a large, empty room crowded with tables, and a tall older man in an elegant pinstriped suit stood to greet him. "See you, Merle," murmured David. His hand squeezed mine, and he gave Arthur a good-bye nod. "Au revoir." The older man embraced David, leaning down to kiss his forehead, then escorted him back out the door. When they were gone, I turned to survey the room. We were the only customers. Waiters leaned against the bar, talking or poring over newspapers. One of them glanced at me and gave a peremptory wave.
Submitted by: Erin Bush
Excerpt Page Number: 125
Setting Year: 1977
Setting Decade: 1970s
Main Themes: Friendship, Gay Culture, Teen Lives
Excerpt: Clea was twenty-three, five years older than me. She was my graduate instructor for life drawing at the Corcoran School of Art...Three hours later, when the class was done, she asked me if I wanted to have lunch...She took me to a place called the Blue Mirror. I'd never been there--I'd never been anywhere. I was a scholarship student from rural Virginia, hours away in the Shenandoah Valley, living in a group house in Northeast where I had to pay only fifty bucks a month for a mattress on the floor and a single bathroom shared with ten other people, most of them students at other schools...It felt strange, now, to be in a restaurant--a big diner, really, booths, and yeah, blue mirrors reflecting the narrow space, so it seemed like we were sitting in a railway car to infinity.
Submitted by: Erin Bush
Excerpt Page Number: 1-2
Setting Year: 1978
Setting Decade: 1970s
Main Themes: Teen Lives
Excerpt: I walked as fast as I could without breaking into a run, but was brought up short when Arthur abruptly stopped in front of the Biograph Theater. "What?" I said. "We're not going to the movies," I repeated. I looked up at the marquee: FRENCH NEW WAVE MARATHON. Beneath it was a poster, a black-and-white photo of a girl with very short dark hair kissing an ugly young man in a fedora and suit that were too big for him, a cigarette in his hand. Bright red letters proclaimed A bout de souffle. "We're not going to the movies," I repeated. Arthur tilted his head. "I like his looks." -- "He's hideous." I glanced into the street but saw no sign of the police car. "What's it mean?" -- "'A bout de souffle'.' 'Last breath.' Like a dying breath." Arthur pressed his face against the glass and peered into the lobby, empty except for a man reading behind the ticket counter. "What is this place?" -- "A movie theater. They do art films. Foreign stuff." I pointed at the list of titles on the marquee: Pierrot le fou, Les quatre cents coups, Le boucher, Le boucher.
Submitted by: Erin Bush
Excerpt Page Number: 121
Setting Year: 1978
Setting Decade: 1970s
Main Themes: Class, Gay Culture
Excerpt: Instead we’d meet at the east wing of the National Gallery, beneath its huge Calder mobile. I loved it there. Even on rainy days, the east wing was filled with light: with its vast windows, angled walls, and glass ceiling, it was like being inside an enormous prism, a kaleidoscope filled with people rather than colored glass.
Submitted by:
Excerpt Page Number: 63
Setting Year: 1978
Setting Decade: 1970s
Main Themes: Class, Gay Culture
Excerpt: The wind shifted, and for an instant the stink of exhaust and grease mingled with a green cool smell, the scent of damp stone and moss: the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Clea and I went there sometimes to walk. Once we’d come across an overgrown culvert, on the far side of Georgetown, near Key Bridge and shaded by maple trees and sumac.
Submitted by:
Excerpt Page Number: 79
Setting Year: 1978
Setting Decade: 1970s
Main Themes: Class, Gay Culture
Excerpt: I walked to where M Street narrows. Not as narrow as the cobblestone alleys in upper Georgetown, where you can imagine what the city looked like a hundred years ago; but it still always feels like you’re entering a different place, a city inside a city. […] On my left, side streets sloped toward the Potomac, on the other side of K Street where it runs beneath the elevated Whitehurst Freeway. Its green river smell wafted up to me: even now, in the fall, it smelled a bit like spring.
Submitted by:
Excerpt Page Number: 80
Setting Year: 1978
Setting Decade: 1970s
Main Themes: Class, Gay Culture
Excerpt: Steel girders arched overhead, echoing with the steady roar of the freeway, and traffic flowed smoothly along K Street. It was dim, with a crumbling sidewalk and an old warehouse that took up most of a block, its brick face broken by garage bays and delivery entrances.
Submitted by:
Excerpt Page Number: 80
Setting Year: 1978
Setting Decade: 1970s
Main Themes: Class, Gay Culture
Excerpt: In front of me was the Potomac, its oak-brown water flecked with sunset confetti, crimson and glittering gold. A narrow strip of scrubby park ran alongside the water, a tangle of sweetgum and ash trees, sumac and goldenrod still heavy with dusty yellow blossoms. Knotweed and spiky grass grew to the river’s edge. Note: this refers to the park on Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, across from the Mole, facing the Watergate complex. However, I've been unable to pin down a street address.
Submitted by:
Excerpt Page Number: 82