Augusten Burroughs says he was ‘set free’ by his abusive father's death in 2005. He chronicles his experiences with his father in his new book ‘A Wolf at the Table.’ (Photo courtesy of St. Martin's Press)
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REBECCA ARMENDARIZ
Friday, May 16, 2008
Gay writer Augusten Burroughs is known for his witty memoirs that combine bizarre personal history with delightfully ironic bon mots about his life, which makes his newest book, “A Wolf at the Table,” such a departure.
This latest memoir focuses exclusively on his father, who, as portrayed by Burroughs, was a vicious alcoholic with sociopathic tendencies. Taking place before Burroughs’ widely read “Running With Scissors” (where the father is ultimately a marginal character), “Wolf” is anything but light, a literary tone that Burroughs says only works for pieces that reflected later years in his life.
“At a certain point, there’s so much bad stuff that could happen to a person … you’ve gotta laugh about it,” he tells the Blade.
Without the dark humor, “Wolf” never relents in its showcase of abuse, making it a challenging read at times, but Burroughs said he never considered watering down the story.
“There’s a terrible lack of literature on the subject of difficult or abusive father-son relationships,” he says. “In terms of men, the books tend to be very cheerful advice books, father-and-son, Norman Rockwell-y and sports … very shallow and positive.”
Burroughs’ father shows no aptitude for parenthood; he commits atrocious acts throughout the book, from marital rape to neglect and physical, mental and emotional abuse.
In one instance, Burroughs and his mother leave for a short vacation. Upon their return, Brutus, the child’s pet and guard dog, has completely shifted his personality, disavowed Augusten, shifted his loyalty to his father and become dangerous.
Burroughs’ technique forces the reader to see the incident through the child’s naive and baffled eyes, disengaging adult logic. Once grown, Burroughs realized his father facilitated the change through inflicting terrible physical harm the animal.
BY USING A CHILD’S VOICE, there are no moments when the narrator ever labels his father with a mental disorder, but as an adult, the author readily offers that his father, who died in 2005, was a classic sociopath.
“[Sociopaths are] not re-habitable, they’re not fixable, they’re broken people. He was missing some human component.”
Though Burroughs was certainly angry with his father for many years, he says he was set free by his death.
“It doesn’t solve anything to hold onto that anger.”
A person never heals from the damage done by an abusive parent, he explains, but people can make accommodations in life, evaluating weaknesses and working around them.
“I have certain vulnerabilities and fears,” he says. “I also have strengths I wouldn’t have otherwise. I’m the person to be with in a crisis … I’m the guy that lands the plane.”
Surprisingly, Burroughs’ sexual orientation wasn’t an issue with his father, possibly because of the chronic neglect.
“Nothing about me interested him in that way, “ he says. “He was more interested in killing my pets.”
The fact that Burroughs is gay was possibly the only non-obstacle in his life. He supports the gay community, but doesn’t consider himself “proud to be gay,” a stance that he says is often misinterpreted.
“I know two things: I’m right-handed, and I’m gay,” he says. “I’m not proud to be right-handed, either. If I had been raised by Evangelicals or Mormons, I’d be wrapping myself in the rainbow flag — that’s an achievement. I have never had one instant of guilt about it.”
Burroughs doesn’t identify as an activist, but is fiercely passionate about the issue of gay marriage, taking particular affront to the opposition’s trope that allowing gays to marry would destroy the “sanctity of marriage.”
“Let’s say that is the case — then the sanctity of marriage must be destroyed.”
Though Burroughs lives in Massachusetts, he and his partner haven’t walked down the aisle yet.
“It’s only an issue of finding the time. I keep telling him, ‘We’ve gotta do this!’”
On the writing front, Burroughs says he will most likely turn to fiction next, saying that there will be a point when he stops writing about himself. Once he does cross into fiction, he says that will be the end of recounting his life experiences, and he will never do another media interview again.
“I’ll totally pull a J.D. Salinger.”
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