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Sun, Nov 22, 2009
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| Who was John Maynard Keynes? by Liz Highleyman | ||
| Gay men are well known for their prominence in creative fields such as literature and the arts, but one of the most influential economists of all times, John Maynard Keynes, also had sexual relationships with men.
Keynes was born June 5, 1883, in Cambridge, England, where his father was a lecturer on political economy and his mother was a social reformer and the first woman mayor of the town. Though born into the middle class, Keynes attended Eton and later Kings College at Cambridge, with scholarships he earned based on his academic achievement. Soon after his arrival at the college, Keynes was invited to join the Apostles, an elite secret society. Among his fellow members were Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, and Leonard Woolf. We repudiated entirely customary morals, conventions, and traditional wisdom, Keynes later recalled. We were, in the strict sense of the term, immoralists. While his studies focused on mathematics, Keynes was always fond of art and literature, and he preferred to socialize in bohemian circles. He, Strachey, Bell, and Woolf - along with the latter two mens wives, sisters Vanessa and Virginia Stephen - became the nucleus of the Bloomsbury group, which expanded to include several prominent writers and artists, among them novelist E.M. Forster and painters Dora Carrington and Duncan Grant. Several members of the group were homosexual or Bisexual - leading Virginia Woolf to dub them the Society of Buggers - and the shifting liaisons among them became legendary. In 1908, Keynes began a relationship with Grant, who had recently ended an affair with Strachey. Keynes and Grant broke up after several years, but remained close friends. An avid collector and cataloguer, Keynes kept meticulous lists of his sexual encounters with men, both regular partners and casual pick-ups. After his graduation, Keynes moved to London and joined the British civil service, but he soon found the work tedious. He accepted a position teaching economics at Cambridge, and at age 28 he was named editor of the prestigious Economic Journal. With the outbreak of World War I, he joined the Treasury Office, where he managed overseas financing (much to the chagrin of his pacifist Bloomsbury associates). In 1918, Keynes was chosen as a delegate to the conference that hammered out the Versailles Treaty. Strongly opposed to the heavy reparations levied against Germany - which he accurately predicted would lead to political instability - he resigned in protest and wrote a critical book, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), which garnered him international renown. After the war, Keynes resumed teaching at Cambridge. His shrewd investments brought him wealth in addition to fame. In 1925, he married Lydia Lopokova, a Russian ballerina 11 years his junior, much to the surprise of his bohemian friends who believed he was homosexual. Keynes thereafter apparently ceased having affairs with men - at least publicly - and the couple remained married until his death. Between the world wars, the international economy entered a deep depression. Keynes devised a theory - set forth in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) - that during economic downturns, governments should embrace deficit spending and create public-works programs to bolster demand and keep unemployment in check. While the laissez-faire market might balance supply and demand in the long run, he suggested, it could not prevent social misery in the present. His ideas laid the foundation for the New Deal in the United States and the welfare states of Western Europe. But, despite a flirtation with Bolshevism as a young man, he was not a socialist. In naming him one of Time magazines 100 most important people of the 20th century, economist Robert Reich wrote that Keynes probably saved capitalism from itself. Keynes health had begun to deteriorate in his mid-50s, but he nevertheless allowed himself to be pressed back into government service, helping to design the new postwar financial institutions - the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank - that he hoped would ensure global economic stability and prosperity. After an exhausting round of travel to conferences, he suffered a heart attack and died at his home in Sussex in April 1946. Although he was married to a woman for half his adult life, much has been made of how Keynes homosexuality influenced his economic theories. Gay author Jeffrey Escoffier suggests that Keynes outsider sexuality made him more sympathetic to the plight of the disadvantaged and more inclined to embrace unconventional ideas. On the other hand, conservative critics argue that because homosexuals typically do not have children, they are more likely to favor short-term profligacy over long-term savings. Indeed, Keynes contended that saving rather than spending was a threat to the economy, and that money was only valuable because it enabled one to enjoy life. [T]his long run is a misleading guide to current affairs, he once famously quipped. In the long run, we are all dead.Same Ole, Same Ole David David was a dreamer. He used to stare out over his Tampa apartment balcony when the sun set and wonder if it looked different every night from anywhere else. For three years, hed gone to school here. Today, like every day for the last three years he followed the same routine: up at 7:00, gym by 8:00, school by 9:00, off to work at noon, school again at 4:00, home by 6:00, study and sleep. Nothing changed... same old, same old. Is this what life is about? How long do I take the same ole, same ole, before I decide I need something else? he thought to himself. One night on that balcony, when it all finally seemed too settled and too stale, he made a miraculous decision. Within the week, he packed everything up on a rented U-Haul and headed west toward California. How long does it take before someone decides that life is too stale and its time for a change? Roman Pulling another Lucky Strike from the pack with his lips in one fluid motion, Roman lit, inhaled, and replaced the lighter in his pocket. He held the smoke in his lungs and exhaled slowly, deep in a smokers thoughtful daze staring out to the crowded intersection. Today after lunch, like every Saturday for the last six years, Roman leaned against the outside wall of Bartells Drug Store in Burien smoking his noon cigarette. Is this what life is all about? How many years go by in the same ole, same ole way, before I experience something else? he thought to himself. The day after St. Patricks Day the wall he used to lean on was empty. Hed put all his stuff in storage and flown to Florida to start a new life in a place as far away as he could pick. How many identical years have to pass before someone decides that its time for new, different years? Beau I sat on a big wooden stump on Pier 54, watching ferries come and go across the sunlit Sound, regurgitating people in the same mesmerizing way they always do. I love this city. Seattle has given me so much. Today, like so many of my days lately, I find myself thoughtfully listening to the universe. I can hear something familiar blowing in the wind. Change is coming. When you love a place, how do you silence that part of yourself that wants to always be open to packing it all up and just driving toward the sunset? The world is so big, there are so many adventures, so many places, and so many things to see. The world belongs to those with the courage to grab life by the balls. Sometimes when life gets to be too something - too stagnant, too routine, too identical, too short - when the days start to look too much one like another, a change is in order. For us dreamers, the same ole question comes up again and again... Liz Highleyman is a freelance writer and editor who has written widely on health, sexuality, and politics. She can be reached care of this publication or at PastOut@qsyndicate.com. |
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 GENERAL GAYETY Leslie Robinson |
 LESBIAN NOTIONS Paula Martinac |
