Tomas -From the life of a callsboy
Text: François Maher Presley
Radierungen: Willibrord Haas
Erschienen 1999
Paperback, 84 S., 21 x 26 cm, illustriert
Preis: 6,80 EUR | Bestellung
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The title of this book is the real name of the young man Tomas from the Czech Republic. Many of the experiences described here are autobiographical. Tomas lives in Hamburg without a residence or work permit and works as a callboy.
His story is told by François Maher Presley from different perspectives, and it is no longer clear whether the first-person narrator reports fictional incidents or facts, Tomas speaks, or the author. On the one hand the hopelessness and hopelessness of the life of a prostitute should be made clear, on the other hand also the life in a reality that seems to consist only of repression and dreams, of cold calculation and the search for love and tenderness.
The story of the partnership between Tomas and his friend Klaus is interrupted by experiences that determine life on the line in order to reflect the parallelism of the events without closing them, the story that runs like a red thread through the book to disturb.
Another perspective emerges from the etchings by the artist Willibrord Haas, which were selected at random and are not identical to the people mentioned in the text, and the lyrical texts assigned by the author to them, which together perhaps represent true encounters between Tomas and the Describe the author, although it is not clear whether it is rather the illusion of those who are in strong contradiction to the actual world of Tomas' experience.
The volume is rounded off by two interviews in which Tomas and a regular customer have their say and thus create a completely new reality for the reader.
Opinions
Individual episodes from an animated life of a male hustler, seemingly strung together without any connection, soon give a more precise picture of this Tomas than a complete narrative can ...
Complemented by etchings by Willibrord Haas - interesting! Dirk Kurz, GayBooks
The life of a Czech prostitute and call boy in Hamburg emerges from individual short texts. The hopelessness of life as a prostitute becomes just as visible as human encounters that are not only based on exploitation, but on real tenderness and lust. Erotic etchings by the gay artist Willibrord Haas are juxtaposed with the texts and create a further perspective. Swarm of Men Publishing House
For me, and especially for me as a woman, this book was an excursion into a completely different world, which of course I am not confronted with in everyday life, as long as the life of prostitutes is not reported in the media. The versatility of the description, the world of sensations, the daily routine, the personal circumstances that led the Tomas described here to prostitution, the dreams, desires, hopes of the boy, but also the tough reality, the paid sex and even the other side, that of the boy Suitors, really pull you into this strange place. I think, especially for me as a mother, the book brought a lot of understanding and touched me too, if Tomas could have been my son too. Sex and love show very little in common here, chat contacts and relationships often cannot keep up with reality, although there are other examples. Recommendable. Astrid Reick, Hamburg
