Edmund White, icon of gay literature, dies at 84

American writer Edmund White , noted gay literary figure and prolific author of over 30 published books , has died at the age of 84. His work was largely informed by his own experiences of homosexuality and sexual freedom . One of his best-known works was the trilogy A Child's Own Story (1982), The Beautiful Room is Empty (1988) and The Farewell Symphony (1997), books in which he explored his life from childhood to adulthood.

White was a great admirer of French literature . He lived in France between 1983 and 1990, where he became close friends with Michel Foucault . He further developed his interest in French authors, writing widely acclaimed biographies of Jean Genet (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize), Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud . During his literary career, he published more than five memoirs , including City Boy (2009) about his life in New York in the 1960s and 1970s, and The Loves of my Life (2025), which openly addresses his sex life.

He was diagnosed HIV positive in 1984. Edmund confessed to having had sex with "three men a week for 20 years" , stating that it was "quite normal to take a break from writing at two in the morning, walk down to the docks and have sex with 20 men in a truck ".

Edmund White in The World

Edmund White gave an interview to EL MUNDO in September 2021, following the reissue of his novel * History of a Boy in Spain*. He expressed his "delight that Spanish readers can access my work," given his appreciation for Hispanic culture and his admiration for authors such as Juan Goytisolo. The American author considered it to be his "best-known" work and "one of the first 'coming out' novels," emphasizing that, despite the protagonist's anguish, the adult narrator's tone reveals an inner peace with his own sexuality.

White also addressed the evolution of the homosexual experience, warning against the idealization of a homophobic past that featured a high rate of alcoholism and suicide within the gay community . Regarding the persistent relationship between homosexuality and pedophilia, the author was blunt: "Statistically, heterosexual child sexual abuse is far more common than homosexual abuse ." Regarding LGBTQ+ Pride , he celebrated its expansion and the greater visibility of the trans community, although he emphasized that "tolerance toward them is virtually unknown in almost half the planet."