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In the Shadow of the Bridge: A Memoir
The bohemian, free-spirited existence that blessed many of Manhattan’s gifted artists and writers in the nineteen fifties and sixties has, with current skyrocketing rents and the high-income requirements of basic living, been nearly extinguished. And only for the likes of an astute observer such as Joseph Caldwell, perhaps be almost forgotten.
In his charming, brutally candid memoir, the author describes his tenure working at WQXR, the venerated classical music station, marching in civil protests and being arrested, his accomplished acquaintances, all of it part of the libertine life of a young gay man who becomes a noted playwright and novelist and Rome Prize winner. But then the mantle of the AIDS epidemic falls heavily on the city and exultation in free love and sex is replaced by unrelenting fear. In a twist of fate, a quixotic love that plagues Caldwell his entire life gives him one last chance at a relationship but in a completely unexpected and tragic ways.
This memoir is an important chronicle of the changing tide of artistic and gay life in New York City in the shadow of the plague years.
In his charming, brutally candid memoir, the author describes his tenure working at WQXR, the venerated classical music station, marching in civil protests and being arrested, his accomplished acquaintances, all of it part of the libertine life of a young gay man who becomes a noted playwright and novelist and Rome Prize winner. But then the mantle of the AIDS epidemic falls heavily on the city and exultation in free love and sex is replaced by unrelenting fear. In a twist of fate, a quixotic love that plagues Caldwell his entire life gives him one last chance at a relationship but in a completely unexpected and tragic ways.
This memoir is an important chronicle of the changing tide of artistic and gay life in New York City in the shadow of the plague years.
200 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 2019
About the author
Joseph Caldwell
26 books18 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
A playwright and novelist whose books include The Pig Did It, The Pig Comes to Dinner, and The Pig Goes to Hog Heaven, Joseph Caldwell has been awarded the Rome Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York City and is working on various post-Pig writing projects.
A playwright and novelist whose books include The Pig Did It, The Pig Comes to Dinner, and The Pig Goes to Hog Heaven, Joseph Caldwell has been awarded the Rome Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York City and is working on various post-Pig writing projects.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 25, 2020
Playwright and writer Joseph Caldwell's memoir, "In the Shadow of the Bridge," on love and loss in New York City before and during the AIDS crisis is a reverent portrait of yearning.
Caldwell, recently new to his apartment in the Lower East Side abutting the Brooklyn Bridge, runs into the love of his life, Gale, while walking across the bridge. After a post-cruise tryst in the sheets, Gale and Caldwell spend many days together, but Caldwell is ultimately left heartbroken, always somehow thinking about Gale. In the 15 years that followed their breakup, Caldwell becomes active in Catholic leftist political activism, starts a tradition of celebrating the Brooklyn Bridge's birthday with friends and illicit bottles of wine, writes some great and some terrible plays, and runs into Gale - who now goes by Bill - who has contracted HIV. The remainder of the book recounts Caldwell's time caring for Bill as slowly succumbs to AIDS.
Much of the book is meant to highlight the ways in which Caldwell never really got over this man who he spent most of his life yearning. The parts of the book in between meeting and reuniting with Gale are beautiful, interesting, and tell the story of a thoughtfully passionate writer. The parts with Gale in them, though important for their reminding us of the horrors of the AIDS crisis and the ways in which caretakers played such an important role, in a way are the least interesting part of the book. Gale in a way, acts a way to shield Caldwell from being more intimate with his own readers.
Nonetheless, "In the Shadow of the Bridge" is an important AIDS memoir and unique for its take on the pre-Stonewall times in New York City.
Caldwell, recently new to his apartment in the Lower East Side abutting the Brooklyn Bridge, runs into the love of his life, Gale, while walking across the bridge. After a post-cruise tryst in the sheets, Gale and Caldwell spend many days together, but Caldwell is ultimately left heartbroken, always somehow thinking about Gale. In the 15 years that followed their breakup, Caldwell becomes active in Catholic leftist political activism, starts a tradition of celebrating the Brooklyn Bridge's birthday with friends and illicit bottles of wine, writes some great and some terrible plays, and runs into Gale - who now goes by Bill - who has contracted HIV. The remainder of the book recounts Caldwell's time caring for Bill as slowly succumbs to AIDS.
Much of the book is meant to highlight the ways in which Caldwell never really got over this man who he spent most of his life yearning. The parts of the book in between meeting and reuniting with Gale are beautiful, interesting, and tell the story of a thoughtfully passionate writer. The parts with Gale in them, though important for their reminding us of the horrors of the AIDS crisis and the ways in which caretakers played such an important role, in a way are the least interesting part of the book. Gale in a way, acts a way to shield Caldwell from being more intimate with his own readers.
Nonetheless, "In the Shadow of the Bridge" is an important AIDS memoir and unique for its take on the pre-Stonewall times in New York City.
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November 15, 2019Hiding his sexuality. Embracing free love. Fighting fear during the AIDS crisis.
The story of novelist, playwright and activist Joseph Caldwell in many ways mirrors the story of New York City’s artist scene in the Fifties and straight through to the Eighties. His new memoir, In the Shadow of the Bridge (Delphinium Books), tracks both the bohemian and gay lifestyle as well as the city itself that came to define him.
Joseph lives in New York next to the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, for which there was a connection. It was “there on the bridge I admitted to myself that ‘sex’ had been central to my life,” Caldwell writes. He, as well as the city, would go through profound changes as he experiences love, loss and tremendous career growth.
Religion plays a big part of Joseph’s life. Growing up in a strict Catholic household, Joseph has trouble dealing with the religion he grew up in and his sexuality. He questions the hypocrisies that come with religion and slowly has to change how he sees faith, not necessarily as judgments from above but love from within.
Caldwell explains, “Christianity’s purpose was neither the exercise of power nor the imposition of dogmas. Its striving was not for conformity enforced from above, but for its opposite—a unity from within, inspired ideally by love.” It is this belief that helps him keep his faith.
The rest of the review: https://booktrib.com/2019/11/bridging...
The story of novelist, playwright and activist Joseph Caldwell in many ways mirrors the story of New York City’s artist scene in the Fifties and straight through to the Eighties. His new memoir, In the Shadow of the Bridge (Delphinium Books), tracks both the bohemian and gay lifestyle as well as the city itself that came to define him.
Joseph lives in New York next to the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, for which there was a connection. It was “there on the bridge I admitted to myself that ‘sex’ had been central to my life,” Caldwell writes. He, as well as the city, would go through profound changes as he experiences love, loss and tremendous career growth.
Religion plays a big part of Joseph’s life. Growing up in a strict Catholic household, Joseph has trouble dealing with the religion he grew up in and his sexuality. He questions the hypocrisies that come with religion and slowly has to change how he sees faith, not necessarily as judgments from above but love from within.
Caldwell explains, “Christianity’s purpose was neither the exercise of power nor the imposition of dogmas. Its striving was not for conformity enforced from above, but for its opposite—a unity from within, inspired ideally by love.” It is this belief that helps him keep his faith.
The rest of the review: https://booktrib.com/2019/11/bridging...
January 30, 2020
Caldwell chronicles a fascinating span of New York City's history within the trajectory of a great love story. Written with a singular talent for capturing both the humorous and the heartbreaking, this memoir reveals the workings of love as no other writer has. A must-read!
May 24, 2021
It’s a gentle memoir. It felt a bit like reading letters he was writing to friends.
September 28, 2019
Fans of Caldwell’s well-known Pig Trilogy as well as not-so-known writing for TV shows like Dark Shadows and The Secret Storm will be pleased to see the new memoir covering his early days in New York. What better way to remember the Big Apple of the 1950’s and 60’s than through the eyes of someone who lived in the midst of all the hubbub with its joys and sorrows, ups and downs, and in the gay community as it struggled with the Aids epidemic. Caldwell, who became a caregiver for those suffering from HIV, shares the most poignant, personal events from his life as they connect with the wider culture around him. This is a warm, sometimes funny, but always insightful look at one particular part of the history of that great city and the lives lived In The Shadow of the Bridge.
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews