The Asbestos Diary (book)

The Asbestos Diary (New York: Oliver Layton Press, 1966), is a groundbreaking, highly-acclaimed novel about BoyLove written by Casimir Dukahz, (pseudonym of Brian O. Drexel, b. July 07, 1909 d. June 28, 1988). In a humorous style full of wildly inventive wordplay, Dukahz evoked "in a fashion appropriately episodic both the bittersweet transience of boyhood and all the adolescent silliness and surprise encountered by a man constantly available for the entertainment of boys." [1] The Asbestos Diary created a sensation in its era and it has been argued that it was partly responsible for the rift between boylovers and radical feminists.

In dedicating his book to 13-year-old Luc, Dukahz explains the meaning of the title:

To LUC

(Prime T-bone in a hamburger world)

"But why do you call it an asbestos diary?" asks Luc.

"Because in it I have written all about you and me, among others, and it hasn't gone up in smoke and flame."

"Are you some kind of creep from outer space or something?" the boy moans, clutching his hair. "If anybody reads it, you'll go to prison and I'll go to reform school!"

"I'll explain that it's farcical satire if not satirical farce," I reassure him, "a bathotic dramaturgical of petulant pubertal villains wooed by pricaresque hero . . . then everybody can read it!"

Background

The publisher of The Asbestos Diary asserted that it was a first in various ways. From the dust jacket of the First Edition:

• The first book by a writer who has been too busy living what he writes about - to write about it! Now he wants to share his personal bliss with a discerning few - the fewer the better, competition being what it is!

• The first book to introduce the humanely necessary element of sexual responsibility into erotica.

• The first fictional work to demonstrate conclusively that boy-love can and should be fun - not sordid, self-condemning or degrading.

• The first fictional work to prove that Dr. Albert Ellis, who wrote, “Boys are lousy lovers,” was about as wrong as an ignorant, biased and presumptuous heterosexual can be.

• The first erotica that has its share of the usual four-letter words, but is also guaranteed to improve your vocabulary.

• The first book-length fictional work to explore a subject which has suffered a ban of silence for nearly two thousand years.

• The first fictional work to defy the publishers’ and censors’ bigoted edicts that boy-love must be portrayed with an unhappy - or at least a neutral - ending.

• The first book to introduce humor as a consistent feature of erotica.

• The first fictional work on boy-love since the Satyricon which treats openly of the subject, by one who knows it and has lived it - not by reporters or others who at best have only textbook, hearsay or second-hand knowledge.

• The first book which may change the sexual habits of at least a million heterosexual males all over the world!

Notes on the Text

You will need access to a good dictionary to fully appreciate the book. As the publisher correctly noted on the dust jacket, it is "guaranteed to improve your vocabulary!!" The notes in this section are designed to further assist you: by explaining some allusions in the text, perhaps to then-current events or to other literature; and by providing other miscellaneous elaborations on the text.

The book consists of 135 short chapters, which typically describe some sort of sexual escapade involving Dukahz. The page numbers used in these notes correspond with the page numbering in the original text.

For a likely explanation of the meaning of the pseudonym Casimir Dukahz, see that BoyWiki article.

Preface

(includes: Dedication; and Table of Contents)

• bathotic is a variant of bathos, do not confuse with pathos

• pricaresque is a pun on prick and picaresque

• "A horse! a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" is a famous line from Shakespeare’s play Richard III

• "O Tempora! o mores!" is a famous sentence by Cicero. It translates as Oh the times! Oh the customs! (Oh what times! Oh what customs!) This sentence is now used as an exclamation to criticize present-day attitudes and trends, often jokingly or ironically.

• Ecce Puer! is Latin for Behold the boy!

• Ave Atque Vale! is Latin for Hail and Farewell! or hello . .and goodbye!!

• "You know in your heart he’s right" was one of Barry Goldwater's campaign slogans from the 1964 US Presidential race. It was frequently parodied as, for example, "In your guts, you know he's nuts", or "In your heart, you know he might" (as in, push the nuclear button), or "You know in your heart, he's too far Right"

• "a boy-Svengali and a recalcitrant Trilby" refers to the novel Trilby (1894) by George du Maurier [2]

• "The Feminine Mystaque" is a pun on The Feminine Mystique (1963) a book written by Betty Friedan. According to The New York Times obituary of Friedan in 2006, it "ignited the contemporary women's movement in 1963 and as a result permanently transformed the social fabric of the United States and countries around the world” and “is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century."

• Geritol is an iron and vitamin tonic that was heavily marketed to old folks during the 1950s - 1970s.

• The Mann Act [3] is a US statute enacted in 1910 prohibiting "prostitution, immorality, and human trafficking," and still valid, with various amendments, today.

• Eros Apteros translates as wingless Eros, or love which is purportedly vulgar by the standards of mainstream society.

• Fanny Hill is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748, which had for the first time become widely available in the USA during the mid-1960s, because of less-restrictive official censorship of literature. [4]

Pages 1 - 27

• "Mrs. Catterwall née Harridan" uses a pun on the verb caterwaul, which means to cry or screech like a cat in heat. Look up harridan in your dictionary! (p.4)

• Soldatentante was (is?) German slang for a soldier-loving faggot. This alludes to a well-known scandal during the early 1900s, involving the richest man in Germany, arms manufacturer Friedrich Alfred Krupp, who was homosexual and had relationships with boys and men. [5] Also see [6] (p.7)

• ". . . the reef between his Charybdis-Butt and Scylla-Tox." The end of a very funny sentence(!), once you understand the story of Scylla and Charybdis [7], and realize the wordplay Butt + Tox = buttocks! (p.9)

• D.A.R. is the Daughters of the American Revolution. W.C.T.U. is the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. "S.O.B. - Female Division" is, uh, self-explanatory. . . (p.12)

• Casimir reading Elsie Dinsmore!!?? [8] (p.15)

• "Safeway A & Piggly-Wiggly" is a mash of three big grocery-store chains of 1960s USA: Safeway; A & P; and Piggly-Wiggly. (p.17)

• McGeorge Bundy (US National Security Adviser), Robert S. McNamara (US Secretary of Defense), and Dean Rusk (US Secretary of State), were three of President Kennedy's "The Best and the Brightest" who continued to serve under President Lyndon Johnson. All were associated with the disastrous war in Vietnam. (p.17)

• "Senatress McCarthy" is an allusion to the famed anti-Communist witch-hunter, Senator Joe McCarthy. [9] (p.17)

• "ex-cathedrally" is wordplay on ex cathedra (p.17)

• Mary McCarthy's 1963 novel is titled The Group, not The Grope (!!) (p.21)

• Pabst, Schlitz, High Life, Rupperts, Schaefer and Rheingold were all popular brands of beer in the USA, while Pilsener is a style of beer. (p. 24 - 25)

Pages 28 - 55

• "Semenary" and "semenars" are puns on semen and: Seminary; and seminars. (p.28)

• "Dr. Pimmel’s Academy for Select Young Gentlemen" - Pimmel is a slang German word for penis (p.28)

• "toral murpitude" is wordplay on moral turpitude, which is a legal concept in the United States that refers to "conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals." (p.32)

• "Wyndonbird, rich Wadybird, watusi Wyndabird and fruggy Wucibird" is wild wordplay (!!) on the names of the USA President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, his wife known as “Lady Bird,” and his two youthful daughters Lynda Bird and Luci Baines. The Watusi and the Frug were two dances popular with teen-agers at the time. (p.39)

• "B.Bardot" is Brigitte Bardot, a French fashion model and actress who was especially well-known as a “sex kitten,” a very appealing and sensual woman. (p.39)

• A cache-sexe is an item, often a small garment, that covers its user's genitals. (p.39)

• "ex-laxity" is wordplay on laxity and Ex-Lax®, which is a well-known brand of laxative in the USA. (p.39)

• dullskuggery is wordplay on skullduggery (p.39)

• Wamsutta® is a brand of home décor items, especially bed sheets and pillowcases. (p.39)

• "House Unamerican Activities" refers to the House Un-American Activities Committee, an investigative organ of the USA Congress which was primarily known for its right-wing agenda.[10] (p.39)

• pedication, a word which is rarely used nowadays, means to have sex with a boy. (p.39)

External links

• Ad for The Asbestos Diary in the July 3, 1966 New York Times