''Ground Zero'' (1988) is a book of essays by
Andrew Holleran
Andrew Holleran is the pseudonym of Eric Garber (born 1944), an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer, born on the island of Aruba. Most of his adult life has been spent in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a small town in Florid ...
. The title refers to a catastrophic disaster in
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...
, namely the havoc wrought by
AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
in the 1980s among gay men. Holleran's essays are by turns thoughtful, reflective, angry, frustrated, and mournful in the extreme. Particularly notable are the twin essays "Notes on Promiscuity" and "Notes on Celibacy," each of which is a collection of provocative
aphorism
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
s.
In 2008, the book was reissued, with ten additional essays and a new introduction, under the title ''Chronicle of a Plague, Revisited: AIDS and Its Aftermath''.
Notes
LGBTQ literature in the United States
1988 non-fiction books
Essay collections
Gay non-fiction books
1980s LGBTQ literature
HIV/AIDS in literature
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