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Dennis Altman Dennis Altman i(A31960 works by) (birth name: Dennis Patkin Altman)
Born: Established: 1943 Sydney, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 Having Sex With the Suspects Dennis Altman , single work review
— Review of Lessons in Murder Claire McNab , 1988 single work novel
1 The Spectre of Tribalism Reflections on Israel, AIDS and Identity Politics Dennis Altman , 2024 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 462 2024; (p. 18-22)

'Last year I turned eighty. Vacillating between denial and celebration, I decided, with some trepidation, on the latter. It was thirty years since I had last had a big birthday party: this one needed to be special. I consoled myself that, old as I am, I am still younger than the president of the United States, Mick Jagger, and the pope.' (Introduction)

1 Universalism or Tribalism? Michael Gawenda’s Memoir Considers What It Means to Be a Jew in Contemporary Australia Dennis Altman , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 26 October 2023;

— Review of My Life as a Jew Michael Gawenda , 2023 single work autobiography

'At one point in this book, journalist Michael Gawenda claims “only progressive, secular reviewers are chosen to review books about Jews.” So I need begin my review of My Life as a Jew by acknowledging that I fit this description.' (Introduction)

1 y separately published work icon Death in the Sauna Dennis Altman , Melbourne : Clouds of Magellan , 2023 26251192 2023 single work novel

'On the eve of a major international AIDS Conference in London, the Conference chair is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Tracking down how he died reveals layers of deception, rivalry and danger for those close to him.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 La Boite Theatre Gives Us a Rollicking, Queer and Very Australian Adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband Dennis Altman , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 28 July 2022;

— Review of An Ideal Husband Lewis Treston , 2022 single work drama
1 Soul-searching with Insight and Challenge Dennis Altman , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13 March 2022; (p. 14)

— Review of The Idea of Australia Julianne Schultz , 2022 multi chapter work criticism
1 Deals, Golf with Trump, and Little Introspection : Joe Hockey Goes to Washington and Writes His Memoirs Dennis Altman , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 21 April 2022;

— Review of Diplomatic Joe Hockey , Leo Shanahan , 2022 single work autobiography

'Perhaps unfairly, the image most of us have of Joe Hockey comes from his time as federal Treasurer, when he was photographed smoking a cigar with then Finance Minister Mathias Cormann in the aftermath of the 2014 budget.'

1 AIDS To COVID: We Have Been Here Before Dennis Altman , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2020;
1 Friday Essay : My Brush with Susan Sontag and Other Tales from the Gay ‘Golden Age’ Dennis Altman , 2019 extract autobiography (Unrequited Love : Diary of an Accidental Activist)
— Appears in: The Conversation , 16 August 2019;
1 6 y separately published work icon Unrequited Love : Diary of an Accidental Activist Dennis Altman , Clayton : Monash University Publishing , 2019 16977539 2019 single work autobiography

'Dennis Altman's long obsession with the United States began when he went there as a graduate student during Lyndon Johnson's Presidency. His early writing stemmed from the counter-culture that developed in the States in the mid-1960s. Altman was involved in early Gay Liberation, and his 1971 study Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation is regarded as a classic work in its field. Since then, Altman's writings have touched in various ways upon the shifting terrain of sexual politics, including the AIDs epidemic, which he witnessed from the onset while living in New York.

'Altman's memoir, Unrequited Love, is as wide-ranging and remarkable as his career, moving between Australia, the United States, Europe and parts of Asia, and influenced by encounters with intellectuals and writers including James Baldwin, Gough Whitlam, Dorothy Porter, Christos Tsiolkas, Gore Vidal and Susan Sontag.

'Written through the lens of recent activism and the global rise of authoritarianism, this is a story of a half century of activism, intellectualism, conflict and friendship.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 [Review] : Boy Erased Dennis Altman , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 407 2018; (p. 70)

'We all love redemption movies. The twist in Boy Erased is that redemption comes by escaping religion rather than discovering it. Garrard Conley is a nineteen-year-old college student who grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist family in Arkansas. When his parents discover his homosexuality, they pressure him into attending a Christian conversion camp, where he lasts twelve days before fleeing. In 2016, Conley published a memoir (Boy Erased) which detailed his experiences.'  (Introduction)

1 'And Then I Found Me' by Noel Tovey Dennis Altman , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 391 2017;
'Looking back on his career, Noel Tovey writes: ‘I could work in three languages. I had dined in the finest restaurants in Europe and America with pop stars and royalty and I had a career in the theatre that most Australians would envy.’ The man who wrote these words grew up an abused and neglected child. When he was seventeen, he served time in Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison for ‘the abominable crime of buggery’, a fact not always mentioned in online references.' (Introduction)
1 Mr Garrett Goes to Canberra Dennis Altman , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January-February no. 378 2016; (p. 61)

— Review of Big Blue Sky : A Memoir Peter Garrett , 2015 single work autobiography
1 Is the Personal Still Political? Dennis Altman , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 75 no. 4 2016; (p. 38-46)

'Is Nikki Gemmell right and if so, how does this relate to the 'sexual revolution' we spoke of in the liberationist days of the early 1970s?' (Publication abstract)

1 The Anchor Dennis Altman , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 385 2016; (p. 10)

— Review of The House That Jack Built : Jack Mundey, Green Bans Hero James Colman , 2016 single work biography
1 Annihilation by Blandness Dennis Altman , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: The Lifted Brow , March no. 25 2015; (p. 61-65)
'At the turn of the century, I became bored writing about homosexuality. Most of my writings for three decades, since my first book Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation, had touched on it in some way or another, even though I had escaped along the way into several other subjects, including a coffee table book which in the language of cultural studies set out to deconstruct postage stamps. Surely, I felt, in a new century, the need to explore and uncover the depths of fear, dislike, and opprobrium of homosexuality had given way to a new normality; when discussing one's sexuality no longer seemed a pre-eminent intellectual and emotional demand.' (Introduction)
1 Repressive Tolerance and Political Correctness Dennis Altman , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Sydney PEN Magazine , May 2015; (p. 18-23)
'Dennis Altman was Professor of Politics and Director of the Institute for Human Security at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, and is now a Professorial Fellow at LaTrobe. He was President of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (2001-5), and a member of the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society (2004-12). Altman first came to attention with the publication of his book Homosexual: Oppression & Liberation in 1972, widely acknowledged as the first serious analysis to emerge from the gay liberation movement. In 2005, he was Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard, and Board member of Oxfam Australia. In 2007, he was made a member of the Order of Australia. ' (Publication abstract)
1 Paradox Dennis Altman , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 366 2014; (p. 23)

— Review of Optimism : Reflections on a Life of Action Bob Brown , 2014 single work autobiography
1 Why Me? Dennis Altman , 2014 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Dirty Secrets : Our Asio Files 2014; (p. 147-157)
1 Writer Crushed by the Sexual Constraints of the Pre-War World Dennis Altman , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 April 2013; (p. 18-19)

— Review of Edens Lost Sumner Locke Elliott , 1969 single work novel
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