James Robert Baker
| James Robert Baker | |
|---|---|
Baker in 1988
|
|
| Born |
October 18, 1947 Long Beach, California, US |
| Died | November 5, 1997 (aged 50) Pacific Palisades, California, US |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, novelist |
| Genre | Satire |
| Literary movement | Transgressional fiction |
| Notable works | Boy Wonder, Tim and Pete |
James Robert Baker (October 18, 1947 – November 5, 1997) was an American author of sharply satirical, predominantly gay-themed transgressional fiction. A native Californian, his work is set almost entirely in Southern California. After graduating from UCLA, he began his career as a screenwriter, but became disillusioned and started writing novels instead. Though he garnered fame for his books Fuel-Injected Dreams and Boy Wonder, after the controversy surrounding publication of his novel, Tim and Pete, he faced increasing difficulty having his work published. According to his life partner, this was a contributing factor in his suicide.
Baker's work has achieved cult status in the years since his death, and two additional novels have been posthumously published. First-edition copies of his earlier works have become collector's items. His novel Testosterone was adapted to a film of the same name, though it was not a financial success. Two other books have been optioned for films, but they have not been produced.
Baker was born in Long Beach, California and raised in what he considered a "stifling, Republican Southern Californian household". Rebelling against his parents, he became attracted to the fringe elements of society, including beatniks (anyone living as a bohemian, acting rebelliously, or appearing to advocate a revolution in manners), artists and gays. In high school during the 1960s he explored his sexuality at underground gay teen nightclubs, while living in fear that his abusive father would find out. At one point, his father hired a private detective to follow him, when he suspected Baker was having an affair with a male neighbor. This family dynamic would be used in many of his novels, most extensively in Boy Wonder.
Baker began taking drugs, and became, in his own words, "an out of control, teenage speed freak". He also began drinking heavily, attributing it to the fact that he was closeted. However, even after coming out, his substance abuse remained excessive and "still had a life of its own". After sobering up, he attended UCLA film school, where he was one of the winners of the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards, and directed two films: Mouse Klub Konfidential and Blonde Death. Mouse Klub Konfidential, a film about a Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer who becomes a gay bondage pornographer, was a controversial entry in the 1976 San Francisco's LGBT Film Festival, as some thought Baker was actually advocating Nazism. It is also credited with having caused Michael Medved to abandon his dream of film making and instead become a film critic.
...
Wikipedia