"The Library of Congress acquired a hundred and forty-six volumes of my diaries, which I’ve been keeping since the early nineteen-seventies. Before I handed over the mostly black-and-red notebooks in which I have chronicled my life, I scanned and downloaded the pages onto a thumb drive. The extracts below, which date from 1985 to 1988, offer glimpses of a young man trying to find his footing as a writer. They also offer a snapshot of a city in the grip of aids. Before moving into the apartment, I had had an affair with a young classicist named Thomas Curley (Tommy). He died of aids, at thirty-one, in October, 1984."