“JD” follows one man’s exploration of both personal and societal evolutions — and his wife’s uncovering that journey decades later.
The novel, which publishes March 24, is the fourth from out Philadelphia author Mark Merlis. He will read from the book 6:30-8 p.m. March 24 at Philadelphia AIDS Thrift at Giovanni’s Room, 345 S. 12th St.
The Baltimore native moved to New Hope about 15 years ago and then to Center City around 2007. Merlis spent decades as a health-policy analyst, retiring in 2012.
His first three novels earned him a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Ferro-Grumley Award and a Lambda Literary Award.
Merlis said he initially conceived of and started writing “JD” almost 20 years ago.
“I put it aside for other projects and then was able to finally get going on it a few years ago,” he said.
The story centers on Jonathan Ascher, a radical writer of the 1960s. He has been dead for three decades when his wife, Martha, begins delving into his personal journals, which provide a revealing look at everything from his sexual explorations in the gay underground to their son’s death.
“Of course, I was around in the ’60s and ’70s, so I was exploring the world I grew up in,” Merlis said about relying on his own experiences to inform the narrative, which evolved during the book’s writing. “It started out mostly about politics, about how all the issues people tried to deal with then are still relevant today: the environment, equality, the plague of labor and so on. But I found myself more and more writing about the family life of this guy whose journals I was pretending to write, so the focus shifted from what I originally intended.”
While the focus is on Ascher’s family life, Merlis said, it does expose the reader to the issues of the era, such as the Vietnam War and the burgeoning LGBT-rights movement.
Merlis said that, while “JD” is not necessarily preaching a message, readers can take away the importance of the universality of some issues.
“I’m tempted to say I don’t do lessons,” he said. “But, the community has become so entirely focused on gay issues, and I think it’s important to realize that there are so many other important things also going on out there. And I think the book talks about that some.”
While the book explores LGBT issues, and Merlis himself is gay, he said he is hesitant to label it a gay novel.
“I’m never comfortable with that phrase because it implies that only gay people ought to read me,” he said. “Realistically, that is where it’ll wind up in Barnes & Noble, so I have to accept the label to an extent. But just like nobody wants to be called a ‘woman novelist’ or an ‘Asian-American novelist,’ we all want to tell stories that can be read by everybody.”
But, Merlis noted, his primary audience will likely be LGBT older adults, who he said will most relate to the novel’s themes and events.
“It’s something that can be read by anybody, but I think my generation will get the most out of it because they’re the ones who went through those years, so they will best understand what it was like,” he said. “And I feel very lucky that we still have a place in our community, Giovanni’s Room, for these stories to be told.”
For more information on Merlis, visit www.markmerlis.com. For more information about the reading, visit www.phillyaidsthriftatgiovannisroom.com/.
