Andrew Calimach

From BoyWiki

Andrew Calimach (1953— ) is a Romanian-American author. He is a matrilineal descendant of the Callimachi noble family of Moldavia and is known for his writings on the subject of same-sex relations in Greek mythology [1]

Works

Calimach researched and compiled the homoerotic domain of Greek mythology - the myths of male love - censored from the beginning of the Christian era up until the end of the 1900s. He published his research in 2002 under the title of Lovers' Legends: The Gay Greek Myths. The work has been widely reviewed and nominated for the 2003 Lambda Literary Award.[2][3]

Three years later he collaborated with Israeli director Agnes Lev, Timothy Carter and Steve Gorn in the production of a dramatized version of the myths, released as a CD with the title of Lovers' Legends Unbound, a work intended by Calimach to complete the process of bringing these major yet little-known myths back to life.


Biography

Born in Romania, Calimach moved to the United States of America with his parents in 1966, as a result of their disillusion with the intellectual, ethical and economic results of communism, which they had initially supported out of idealism. He was a friend and co-religionist of Allen Ginsberg, both students of Chögyam Trungpa, the Tibetan Buddhist teacher. He has also studied and practiced Mazatec shamanism. His spiritual practices have informed his approach to Greek mythology and helped him recognize the spiritual elements in the stories.[4]

An independent scholar and polyglot who writes on gender studies and other social issues, Calimach runs workshops on the gay Greek myths. He divides his time between New York and Bucharest, and continues his studies and writing.[5]

Lovers' Legends: The Gay Greek Myths

Lovers' Legends: The Greek Myths (ISBN 0-9714686-0-5) is a 2002 book by Andrew Calimach, which presents and discusses the Greek myths of male love. This work evokes the world view of two-to-three thousand years ago. The work restores the myths using the exact language of the original fragments whenever possible using the present tense.

Calimach, in his seminars, describes the stories as "orphan myths" because they do not play into any of the main modern political agendas. They depict idealized age-structured male love relationships, thus they do not serve the purpose of the mainstream gay movement. They point out that relationships should be with youths who have come of age, thus falling outside the scope of modern proponents of boy love. They mostly involve personages who have relationships with the other sex as well.

Lovers' Legends Unbound

Lovers' Legends Unbound is a theatrical production directed by Agnes Lev, performed by Timothy Carter, with incidental music composed and performed by Steve Gorn. The work was released by Haiduk Press in 2004 as an audio-CD together with an illustrated libretto. Based on the mythographical research of Andrew Calimach, as published in the Lovers' Legends: The Gay Greek Myths work; the performance condenses, intensifies, and brings the Greek myths of male love back to life.

Bibliography

  • Lovers' Legends: The Gay Greek Myths. New Rochelle, Haiduk Press. 2002. ISBN 978-0-9714686-0-3
  • Lovers' Legends Unbound. New Rochelle, Haiduk Press. 2004. ISBN 978-0-9714686-1-0
  • "The Exquisite Corpse of Ganymede: A Cursory Overview of an Ancient Gender Studies Discourse" in THYMOS: Journal of Boyhood Studies, Vol. 1 No. 2, 117-137. (Fall 2007)
  • Legendele iubirii. Miturile necenzurate ale Greciei. Bucharest, Paralela 45. 2008. ISBN 978-973-697-642-1

References

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Calimach
  2. And the winner is. (In the Stacks). 13.3. May 2003. 40. 
  3. Book review list from Haiduk Press website - dead link June 2010
  4. Calimach 2008, p.148
  5. Author bio at Haiduk Press website - dead link June 2010

External links