FOREWORD
Other Books by John Rechy
CITY OF NIGHT
NUMBERS
THIS DAY'S DEATH
THE VAMPIRES
THE FOURTH ANGEL
RUSHES
THE COMING OF THE NIGHT
I conceived of this book as a "prose documentary." The stark style I attempted—different from that of all my other books— and its "black-and-white" imagery are intended to suggest a documentary film. The "essays" function as "voice-overs" and speak at times in affirmation of Jims actions, at other times in questioning, still others in argument, even opposition. The deliberate fluctuations and "contradictions" are essential to the meaning of this book.
In writing The Sexual Outlaw, I attempted what I consider a new approach to the so-called non-fiction novel: I arranged random "real" experiences so that their structured sequence would stand for narrative development. Although there is a protagonist whom the book follows intimately, minute by recorded minute for a full weekend, there is no strict plot. Although there is a vast cast of characters, most are nameless and appear only briefly as their lives intersect with the short segment—virtually "pastless"—of Jims life isolated for attention here. I wanted to create characters, including the protagonist, who might be defined "fully"—by inference—only through their sexual journeys.
This book was composed in two main parts: the "experiential" passages in which the protagonist, Jim, sexhunts throughout Los Angeles for three days and nights; and various "essay-style" sections. The "experiential" chapters were written first, straight through, with only noted designations of where a certain "essay" would be inserted later. Then I wrote the individual "essay" sections.
Since the initial publication of this book, some changes have occurred and new, profound dangers have emerged within the world it describes; and so this book remains today as a "prose-documentary" reflecting a certain time, one composite weekend in the mid-1970s.
Because several of the "essays" are identified by definite dates—all in the 1970s—I considered revising parts of them for this present, new edition: But reading over those "essays," I realized—sadly—that in far too many instances the dates identifying journalistic stories or headlines might be brought forward in time, and the same documented outrages would still reflect today's troubling realities.
John Rechy
Los Angeles, 1984
