Gordon Merrick (1916–1988)

The Lord won’t mind, but I did.

A funny story about this book (which I read for my 20th century queer project, 100 books, one for each year of the 20th century). Right before Christmas, I was flying from Montreal to my hometown (about a 4 hour flight), with the flight starting at six in the morning. Understandably, I wanted some books that would be attention-grabbing and EASY to read because the flight was going to be packed, early and a brutal slog with not much to entertain me.

So I ordered a few super smutty / erotica books to entertain me, recommended to me by a very popular and accomplished YouTuber.

I was right. The flight was packed to the gills with everyone’s massive suitcases, gifts and winter coats. So I settled down to read my books. They were alright, but not as great as I was hoping. And one of them, marked as a new adult erotica book, only got smutty 70% of the way in.

So, I gave up and thought I’d try The Lord Won’t Mind by Gordon Merrick, my book for 1970. Even if I just read for ten minutes, at least I’d start on another book and gradually chip away at the 80-something books I have to read.

And oh boy I was not expecting very explicit sex scenes between the two main characters (Charlie and Peter) immediately. It put my new adult smut to shame, it really did. It thrilled me. I laughed so hard! It really does feel like a blend of sex definitely sells and also the only place men can have safe, intimate sex is in fiction on a page so I’ll just write LOTS of it.

Alexander the Great and Hephaestion who? Never heard of ‘em.

I loved it.

… until the misogyny and awful racism, of course, which tends to be a bit of a theme in this project. A theme I had anticipated, but is nonetheless not fun to encounter.

Charlie is a pig. I hate him. I really, truly loathed him. He’s racist, sexist, homophobic and a pretentious snob. Any time there's a marginalised character (a queer man, a woman, a black person) you can be guaranteed Charlie will say something awful and almost entirely without provocation.

Peter is not as bad. Initially, he’s a doormat, until the two move to New York and are separated for various reasons. I liked Peter’s character a lot more. There’s … something magnetic about him. How he is unapologetically queer, more flamboyant, more camp, more celebratory of his love, himself and his peers.

While Charlie is obsessed with money, work and financial security, Peter doesn’t mind money much at all, and knows he will find his way. While Charlie is racist against black people at every turn, Peter often finds himself in Harlem at blues clubs and parties, creating friendships with queer black men. While Charlie is obsessive over the projection of his life and his family’s view of him, Peter is rather apologetically happy to cut anyone out of his life that doesn’t agree with him.

I suppose there is a discussion one could have around Charlie’s character and how his familial expectations and toxic masculinity are what made his character really, truly terrible. But he did such reprehensible things (truly) that I don’t care about Merrick’s discussion around those topics. Like, there’s so much here, and I just don’t care because Charlie’s an asshole and even if his terrible traits are necessary, who the fuck cares?

I’d read a book about Peter again, perhaps, but never Charlie. Even though this book starts a trilogy, I won’t be continuing it.

Up until then, many of the books published about gay men didn’t have happy endings. In fact, one of the ways to make sure they were published was to punish them enough for their indiscretions. Books like E.M Forster’s Maurice (admittedly, what I wanted when I selected this book), written in 1913, would remain unpublished for years. Not only because it was gay, but because it ended well for both characters.

Merrick dared, in 1970, to give two gay men a happy ending. Odd that I, a real romantic, didn’t want a happy ending for Charlie and Peter.

If you want a book like this, consider E.M Forster's Maurice, which also stars a blonde, beautiful, slightly pretentious man and his unapologetically queer lover, but is far superior.

tw: racism, racial slurs, rape, homophobia, homophobic slurs, domestic violence, abuse… (altro)

Merrick's best-known book, The Lord Won't Mind, is a gay romance starring Charlie Mills and Peter Martin as handsome and well-endowed young men. They meet and fall madly in love. While the emphasis is on physical beauty it also speaks to the way persons define themselves. The response to beauty is certainly an aspect of the complexity of relationships. The book follows Charlie's path from a closeted gay man to a person who accepts himself. Charlie is terrified of rejection, especially that of his rigid, moralistic grandmother whom he loves but who expects him to marry and have children. Charlie at first attempts to live a double-life, expressing his homosexuality through acting and painting. But his life is incomplete without Peter.
It is through Charlie's anguish that the reader catches a glimpse of Merrick's interest in the problems the gay male experiences establishing an identity. Charlie's socially-imposed resistance is in contrast to Peter's childlike innocence. The novel chronicles changes in their lives as they grow older. In spite of some melodramatic moments, I enjoyed the book. It is light romantic gay fiction -- an entertainment for winding down by the fire on a cold winter night, or for reading on the beach on a summer's day.… (altro)