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Title
Oral history interview with Joel Redon [Sound Recording 02]
Date(s)
- 1992-11-01 (Creation)
Extent
Audiocassette; 00:28:32
Name of creator
Biographical history
Joel Redon was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1961. He studied writing at New York University and with Paul Bowles at the American School of Tangiers in Morocco. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986. He authored several novels, including the semi-autobiographical novel, "Bloodstream." He died in 1995.
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Scope and content
Tape 1, Side 2. In the first interview session, conducted on November 1, 1992, Redon discusses his family background and early life in Portland, Oregon, including his education and early interest in writing. He speaks about his sexual identity as a gay man and describes how he came to accept that label. He talks about running away from home and dropping out of high school at age 16, relocating to Seattle, Washington, and earning his GED. He talks about working as an interviewer for the Willamette Week newspaper in Portland and discusses some of the people he interviewed. He also briefly speaks about coming out and about changing his name from Bruce Randolph Didzun to Joel Redon in 1980. He speaks at length about his relationships with Paul Bowles, Allan Ginsburg, and Tennessee Williams. He talks about returning to Oregon and his relationship with a man he identifies as Jeffrey, and he describes the Portland gay social scene in the 1980s. He speaks about the end of the gay lifestyle in Portland at the end of the 1980s and the causes of its destruction; talks about the evolution of gay rights advocacy groups; and talks about the effect of AIDS on the gay community. He speaks at length about living with his own AIDS diagnosis, as well as his opposition to AZT (azidothymidine) treatments. He also discusses writing his semi-autobiographical novel “Bloodstream” and talks about the differences between himself and the novel’s protagonist, Peter, and discusses writing his other novels.
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Conditions governing access
Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.
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- English
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- Harmon, Rick (Contributor)