Geraci, Joseph

views updated

Geraci, Joseph

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Amsterdam, Netherlands. E-mail—[email protected]

CAREER:

Writer and dealer of rare photographs.

MEMBER:

Paidika Foundation (director).

WRITINGS:

Loving Sander, Gay Men's Press (London, England), 1996.

(Editor) Dares to Speak: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Boy-Love, Gay Men's Press (London, England), 1997.

Marrying Tom, Millivres-Prowler Group (London, England), 2002.

The Deaf-Mute Boy, Terrace Books (Madison, WI), 2006.

Member of editorial collective, Catholic Worker.

SIDELIGHTS:

Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Joseph Geraci has dealt in rare photos and books since the 1970s. His first foray into novel writing was in 1996, with Loving Sander. The book explores a non-conventional and controversial relationship between a man and a young boy, a story line that drew criticism as condoning pedophilia. Geraci's second novel also touched on the theme of homosexual love; Marrying Tom follows two gay teens living in a small American town who become attracted to one another despite belonging to rival gangs. Geraci served as editor of Dares to Speak: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Boy-Love, a collection of essays on various topics related to romantic relationships between adults and minors.

In 2006 Geraci released The Deaf-Mute Boy, a fictional account of a gay university professor who, on an academic trip to Tunisia, is drawn into the complex politics and cultural scene of the region after he befriends a bullied local boy. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked that Geraci "does an excellent job of capturing Tunisian medina life." A Kirkus Reviews contributor maintained that Geraci has "created a believable (if occasionally pretentious) hero in the well-meaning intellectual Maurice [Burke]." Faye A. Chadwell, writing for the Library Journal, commented: "This book succeeds because Geraci adeptly shapes Burke's lingering in Sousse into a thoughtful excavation."