“Wearing the toupee is the toupee.”
Salvador Novo
(July 30, 1904 – 1974)
Sign: Leo
Openly gay government official and intellectual in Mexico City. Salvador Novo’s talents and interests were plentiful, in addition to holding high posts at the Ministries of Culture and Public Education, he was celebrated as a writer and poet. Novo was a member of the loosely organized literary group Los Contemporáneos, and considered to be one of the finest prose stylists of the era.
Novo’s obvious queerness went largely unaddressed in his official posts, uncommon for the time.
Translator Marguerite Feitlowitz said of Novo: “Famously effeminate, Novo spoke in a high voice, tweezed his eyebrows, wore elaborate makeup, dressed with an extreme elegance all his own, and brooked no conflict.”
I Think, in These Hours, of You, My Love
“Faggot Forefathers” is a weekly series highlighting the lives of historically significant gay men and their contributions to our world.
