Paul Rudnick Reveals What's Great About Being Gay in New Novel

Paul Rudnick can't contain his wit and incisive observations in any one medium. A playwright, screenwriter, novelist, columnist, and contributor to quintessentially Big Apple publications like The New York Times and The New Yorker, he's a prolific writer who's always got something relevant – and funny – to say.

It's fitting, then, that Rudnick's new novel, "Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style," has a loosely flowing, freeform shape that can accommodate multiple narrative spaces. The book's first-person narrator, a writer named Nate who hails from New Jersey, reflects a number of Rudnick's own accomplishments, writing a movie that's a thinly-disguised version of "Sister Act" and a play that's clearly a reference to Rudnick's early '90s classic, "Jeffrey."

When Nate meets Farrell Covington, the son of one of America's most wealthy and powerful industrialists, he's swept away by what can only be called Farrell's style: His wild, left-field cleverness, his untrammeled sexuality, and blend of disconcerting directness and angelic charm. It's not long before the two are lovers – and they stay that way for decades, despite interference and intimidation from Farrell's ruthless father, Bible-clutching mother, and treacherous brothers. Starting in the mid-1970s and progressing through the decades that follow – the AIDS crisis, Jesse Helms and Jerry Falwell, the rise of greater LGBTQ+ acceptance and the piecemeal advent of marriage equality – the novel tells the story of a lifetime bond that transcends mere sex, or even cohabitation, and blossoms into a larger-than-life epic.

This is a love story on a grand scale, but it's no fairytale romance patterned after heterosexual norms. Eschewing ordinary and predictable plot lines, Rudnick constantly surprises the reader, while his scintillating prose style tosses out comedic gems on every page. Rather than spoil anything, let's let Paul Rudnick do the talking – about the novel, gay culture, and even the new project he's cooking up with Billy Eichner.

EDGE: At several points on the novel I thought, "This is something like an American 'Brideshead Revisited.'" Was that resonance deliberate?

Paul Rudnick: Actually, it was. It's one of my favorite books, and I adored the original miniseries, the Jeremy Irons/Anthony Andrews version. I love the romance of it, and the focus on college days, which are a very specific time in anyone's life, when you're really starting to invent yourself. It was definitely an influence.

EDGE: Farrell Covington seems to me like a patron saint not only of style, but of queerness itself. This book is a presentation of what's great about being gay.

Paul Rudnick: Oh, very much so! I think there are so many essential and valid queer stories that involve an enormous amount of trauma, violence, the difficulty in coming out. But I always felt that there was plenty of room for every other possible story, and I tend to go for the more celebratory side of things, and I know so many people who are living these joyous, expansive gay lives despite endless obstacles. I wanted to reflect that.

EDGE: The word "expansive" seems appropriate because this is a lifelong relationship that doesn't exactly fall into the usual heteronormative format.

Paul Rudnick: One of the great pleasures of gay lives is the ability to make your own rules. I think it's an outsider privilege, in a way. I always loved the sense of, "Okay, since I've already broken some primary rules by being gay at all, why not shatter a few more? Or as many as I like?" It's an epic romance that takes place over 50 years and more. That navigation [of their relationship] fascinated me. It's not conventional, and yet it's wildly romantic.

EDGE: I saw quite a lot of yourself in Nate, but does Farrell Covington reflect a person in your life, or an amalgam of people in your life, or is he a fantasy figure?

Paul Rudnick: I have a life partner over 30 years whom I adore, who's the most magnificent man, but he's in no way Farrell Covington. Farrell is someone who is entirely fictional and invented. I hadn't even expected [Farrell] when I began the book, but after a couple of pages he appeared, he wouldn't shut up, and he took over. I was just smart enough to surrender and hang on for dear life, because he was just what I wanted to be, and more. I think every writer experiences this at a certain blessed moment, where you realize, "Okay, someone has entered the picture and given me an opportunity."

EDGE: How do you define style – and more specifically, gay style?

Paul Rudnick: I think it applies to anyone who is helplessly and exuberantly themselves. The gay people in my life have been such an inspiration because there's a real style to them, a real sense of, "Okay, get on board or get left behind." They're just that much fun, and that smart.

I think there is a certain gay style. I think anytime anyone tries to absolutely define a gay sensibility or queer style, that's a hopeless journey. But there is something recognizable. It's like pornography: I know it when I see it.

[Laughter]

EDGE: At the time you wrote your trailblazing play "Jeffrey," TV wasn't talking about AIDS, and movies were barely talking about it. Fast forward to today, and it seems that it's streaming that's taking the lead when it comes to the pressing topics that the LGBTQ+ community has to deal with today. Why that might be?

Paul Rudnick: A lot of it is due to producers, people with clout using that authority to tell these stories. Ryan Murphy has been instrumental, and so extraordinary in telling gay stories, including gay actors all the time. Greg Berlanti is another wonderful example of a producer-director who's had enormous success. It's a great new world, and I'm delighted to take full advantage.

EDGE: Did you ever have a thought that maybe "Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style" could be a miniseries, a play, or movie?

Paul Rudnick: I knew this needed to be a novel because it was epic in scope. You know, when you tell those kinds of stories on film or television, you start to worry, "Okay, can one actor play every age range? Can you keep replacing people [as the characters age]?" A book gives you that sense of expansiveness.

And I wanted that direct address. I really wanted this book to feel like someone talking right to the reader. Sometimes the best books feel like the best gossip, where it's like, "I'm gonna let you in on this."

EDGE: What can you say about "My Ex-husbands," which you're co-writing with Billy Eichner?

Paul Rudnick: It's a project that Billy came to me with. I just I adore him. I think he's so talented as a performer, as a writer, you name it. I loved "Bros." So, I was very excited to become a part of [writing "My Ex-husbands"].

The easiest way to describe it is, it's kind of a gay "War of the Roses." We've had a lot of very upstanding, polished gay role models, and maybe there's now an opportunity to tell other stories that are a little more rowdy. I won't divulge too much, but it's a couple who were the first gay couple to be married in America, and so they become these role models. That's the most terrifying romantic situation you can imagine – that sense of, "Oh, my god, if we are the first gay people to get married, what happens if we're the first gay people to get divorced?" It's a great source for comedy.

EDGE: Do you feel that you're a role model, or have become someone who doesn't want to let everyone down? Or do you just try not to worry about any of that?

Paul Rudnick: Oh, I think you can't worry about it, because otherwise you'll just say, "Oh, my god, I'm the worst gay person who ever lived. Please, kids, don't try this at home."

If I think if I contributed anything, it's that sense of, "No, let gay people be who they are, not who we expect them to be, not who the straight world will pat on the head. Let's tell the truth about our lives, because that will be the most delightful and the most useful approach."

When I was a kid growing up in New Jersey, I never separated people into gay and straight. I always thought there were people who lived in New Jersey, and people who lived in New York, and then at some point, a bus would come and take me there. And it did. So, when I first got my first toehold in the gay world, it was every bit as wonderful as I'd hoped, and that's so rare; I mean, mostly, nothing ever lives up to expectations, but the queer community always surprises me, and sometimes can exasperate me, but it's every bit as good as I dreamed of.

"Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style" is available now.