Sound Familiar?

While reading--and enjoying--Edmund White's autobiography (My Lives, Bloomsbury, 2005), I came across a passage that caused me to muse: "now that's a familiar theme."

(White is doing research for his biography of Jean Genet at the time)

"...I began to see that in the old Mediterranean world an established man of means who took a long-term interest in a poor young man was simply considered a benefactor -- and no one questioned what they did when the lights went off. Parents were happy that the son suddenly had a few opportunities; the man of means was happy to have a protege..."

If it wasn't so cheap this might be true.

Maybe it would help if I completed the entire passage:

"...the man of means was happy to have a protege (and eventually an heir). The combination of devoted older man and beautiful ephebe, after all, went back to ancient Greece, though the Greek idea excluded a disparity in wealth."

NOTE: Genet made heirs of two of the young men he befriended (one, Jack Maglia, served as his executor).

It wasn't very nice of the lad to repay his generosity by executing him...

BoyG wrote: "It wasn't very nice of the lad to repay his generosity by executing him..."

You need to explain yourself. Who, what, when, where, why?

You need to explain yourself. Who, what, when, where, why?Texas. Why not? Is that why boygeenyus is hiding out in Thailand?

though the Greek idea excluded a disparity in wealth."

No not familiar at all.

Genet died of throat cancer. BoyG apparently confused him with writer Pier Paolo Pasolini who was done in by a young Italian hustler in a seaside resort.

This should come as no surprise as BoyG frequently gets confused.

Cedric,
How many times have we read in this forum accounts of visits to Issan where the farang "uncle" reports meeting his bf's family, sleeping with bf in family home, and the great delight expressed by family over the visit? Substitute "Thailand" for "the old Mediterranean world" and those accounts read a hell of a lot like this:

"...I began to see that in the old Mediterranean world an established man of means who took a long-term interest in a poor young man was simply considered a benefactor -- and no one questioned what they did when the lights went off. Parents were happy that the son suddenly had a few opportunities; the man of means was happy to have a protege..."

Genet died of throat cancer. BoyG apparently confused him with writer Pier Paolo Pasolini who was done in by a young Italian hustler in a seaside resort.

This should come as no surprise as BoyG frequently gets confused.

I was making a JOKE, dear. Executor for executioner. God you're dim.

You weren't making a joke, BoyG, you were simply wrong and are now trying to cover for it.

You're even dimmer than I thought...