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Larry Kramer, AIDS Warrior, Takes on Another Plague Larry Kramer, AIDS Warrior, Takes on Another Plague
(about 4 hours later)
Larry Kramer, the AIDS activist who became that epidemic’s wrathful prophet, is now writing a play for the age of Covid-19, perhaps the last work he will ever write.Larry Kramer, the AIDS activist who became that epidemic’s wrathful prophet, is now writing a play for the age of Covid-19, perhaps the last work he will ever write.
“It’s about gay people having to live through three plagues,” he said Tuesday from his apartment in Greenwich Village, where he is becoming increasingly isolated. “I wonder if it will ever be done now.” “It’s about gay people having to live through three plagues,” he said Tuesday from his apartment in Greenwich Village, where he is becoming increasingly isolated.
The three plagues are H.I.V./AIDS, Covid-19 and the decline of the human body — specifically, a broken leg that Mr. Kramer, 84, suffered last April, when he fell in his apartment and lay on the floor until his home attendant arrived hours later.The three plagues are H.I.V./AIDS, Covid-19 and the decline of the human body — specifically, a broken leg that Mr. Kramer, 84, suffered last April, when he fell in his apartment and lay on the floor until his home attendant arrived hours later.
For Mr. Kramer, who has had several brushes with death since receiving an H.I.V. diagnosis in 1988, these days have haunting echoes of the AIDS epidemic, which he feels never ended.For Mr. Kramer, who has had several brushes with death since receiving an H.I.V. diagnosis in 1988, these days have haunting echoes of the AIDS epidemic, which he feels never ended.
“The government has been awful in both cases,” he said, his voice softer than the old days but his anger undiminished. “They were terrible with AIDS and they’re terrible with this thing. One wonders what will become of us.”“The government has been awful in both cases,” he said, his voice softer than the old days but his anger undiminished. “They were terrible with AIDS and they’re terrible with this thing. One wonders what will become of us.”
As in the AIDS epidemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is a fixture on the nightly news. The two men have a complicated history. In the 1980s, Mr. Kramer blamed Dr. Fauci for the federal government’s slow response to AIDS, calling him a murderer and an “incompetent idiot.”As in the AIDS epidemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is a fixture on the nightly news. The two men have a complicated history. In the 1980s, Mr. Kramer blamed Dr. Fauci for the federal government’s slow response to AIDS, calling him a murderer and an “incompetent idiot.”
But the adversaries developed a grudging friendship, and Dr. Fauci helped get Mr. Kramer into a lifesaving experimental drug trial after Mr. Kramer had a liver transplant.But the adversaries developed a grudging friendship, and Dr. Fauci helped get Mr. Kramer into a lifesaving experimental drug trial after Mr. Kramer had a liver transplant.
“We are friends again,” Mr. Kramer said in an email. “I’m feeling sorry for how he’s being treated. I emailed him this but his one line answer was, ‘Hunker down.’”“We are friends again,” Mr. Kramer said in an email. “I’m feeling sorry for how he’s being treated. I emailed him this but his one line answer was, ‘Hunker down.’”
Also as with AIDS, people’s casual encounters from the past have taken on potentially lethal significance, and the news brings a steady drip of death or diagnosis: the playwright Terrence McNally, whom Mr. Kramer called a close friend and neighbor, dead at 81; the AIDS researcher Dr. Michael Saag, diagnosed at 64 on his way home from organizing a medical conference on retroviruses and opportunistic infections, ill but not critical.Also as with AIDS, people’s casual encounters from the past have taken on potentially lethal significance, and the news brings a steady drip of death or diagnosis: the playwright Terrence McNally, whom Mr. Kramer called a close friend and neighbor, dead at 81; the AIDS researcher Dr. Michael Saag, diagnosed at 64 on his way home from organizing a medical conference on retroviruses and opportunistic infections, ill but not critical.
“It’s been so long that I have been losing friends that it becomes surreal,” Mr. Kramer said.“It’s been so long that I have been losing friends that it becomes surreal,” Mr. Kramer said.
He did not find that his experience during the AIDS crisis gave him perspective on the coronavirus pandemic, he said. Rather, the two eras merge into each other.He did not find that his experience during the AIDS crisis gave him perspective on the coronavirus pandemic, he said. Rather, the two eras merge into each other.
“We certainly had our experience,” he said of his generation of AIDS activists. “But I find it very hard to stay in touch with the outside world, because of the hardships we are all having to go through. You can read about everybody else’s experiences on Facebook, but it gets depressing after a while.”“We certainly had our experience,” he said of his generation of AIDS activists. “But I find it very hard to stay in touch with the outside world, because of the hardships we are all having to go through. You can read about everybody else’s experiences on Facebook, but it gets depressing after a while.”
For Mr. Kramer, who is largely homebound, a challenge of the pandemic has been isolation. His husband, David Webster, whom he married in 2013 in the intensive care unit of NYU Langone Medical Center, has been away on a work project, wary of bringing potential exposure into the home. Some of Mr. Kramer’s home attendants, also, have had to stop coming because of exposure to the disease.For Mr. Kramer, who is largely homebound, a challenge of the pandemic has been isolation. His husband, David Webster, whom he married in 2013 in the intensive care unit of NYU Langone Medical Center, has been away on a work project, wary of bringing potential exposure into the home. Some of Mr. Kramer’s home attendants, also, have had to stop coming because of exposure to the disease.
So he has tried to lose himself in the new play, “An Army of Lovers Must Not Die,” which he has had to change almost daily as the news changes. “I wonder if it will ever be done now,” he said of the play.So he has tried to lose himself in the new play, “An Army of Lovers Must Not Die,” which he has had to change almost daily as the news changes. “I wonder if it will ever be done now,” he said of the play.
But Mr. Kramer, for all his doom-saying, has repeatedly beaten the odds, surviving to finish his two-part epic novel, “The American People,” the second volume of which, at 880 pages, landed earlier this year.But Mr. Kramer, for all his doom-saying, has repeatedly beaten the odds, surviving to finish his two-part epic novel, “The American People,” the second volume of which, at 880 pages, landed earlier this year.
“It’s a great book to read when you’re stuck for hours and hours,” he said.“It’s a great book to read when you’re stuck for hours and hours,” he said.
Mr. Kramer was a maddening, titanic figure during the AIDS crisis, and at moments seems still to see himself in that thundering role. Death is his truth serum.Mr. Kramer was a maddening, titanic figure during the AIDS crisis, and at moments seems still to see himself in that thundering role. Death is his truth serum.
“Show me a plague,” he wrote in volume one of his epic, “and I’ll show you the world!”“Show me a plague,” he wrote in volume one of his epic, “and I’ll show you the world!”
The current plague, he said, calls for its own Larry Kramer to bring the rage — against disease, against governmental failure, against the unfairness of death. It just will not be him. “I wish I could be,” he said. “I don’t know how. I would like to have a big movement,” he added. “But I’m not quite sure how to do that.”The current plague, he said, calls for its own Larry Kramer to bring the rage — against disease, against governmental failure, against the unfairness of death. It just will not be him. “I wish I could be,” he said. “I don’t know how. I would like to have a big movement,” he added. “But I’m not quite sure how to do that.”