always with heterosexual men, and with no Christians, always with Muslims. We were in a situation with no
women, no money to go with whores and it was normal to go with Arab men."
page 2 of 3
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He writes about HIV and Aids openly, describing the disease
as "the One-syllabled monster." He explains: "Many of my
close friends died from Aids, writers and artists in various fields of
expression. My novels are not so much about Aids but rather there is reference
to characters who have the disease.
"I've written a homage to St John of the Cross in which the principal
character has infected blood. Because he maybe is of Jewish or Arabic
descent he accepts the infection in a positive way."
Since his wife died four years ago Goytisolo has lived most of his time
in a house in Marrakech sharing his existence with two Moroccan brothers
and their children.
"I now have a family in Morocco. I have two friends and their children
and have
adopted three Moroccan children. They will be my inheritors. I'm very glad that all my rights and everything will pass onto three lovely Moroccan children."
The One-syllabled monster
Goytisolo's latest novel, A Cock-Eyed Comedy, satirises the Catholic Church
and its powerful secrecy, and also digs deep into the sinful underbelly
of gay Paris
What is it? Where is it? The word 'Aids' is entirely missing from A Cock-Eyed
Comedy. Yet it appears everywhere as 'The One-syllabled monster'. Goytisolo,
perhaps, also appears under another name, as 'Saint Juan de Barbés',
the newly-canonised author character who travels through the cruising
ups and downs of Paris.
The book is all about sinners, guilt, and history; a long and dark history
embracing the millennial tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. The book's
hero, Friar Bugeo, member of the debatable sect Opus Dei, relates through
his numerous and endless transmigrations the vicious secrets of a
gangrenous institution. In his sexual hallucinations, you encounter characters reminiscent of Genet or Roland Barthes, haunting 'sacred places' - the 'modern-day confessionals' of
