This Cleaving and this Burning [Paperback]

A sweeping tale of friendship, ambition, and the hidden currents beneath creative genius.

Two aspiring writers, Miller Sark and Hal Pierce, born on the same day in the same year to parents with the same first names, grow up together and eventually gain national prominence as authors. As the years pass, the complex sexual identities of Miller and Hal undermine their intense private relationship, inflicting damage that cannot be undone by the distinction of their fiction and poetry.

Inspired by the lives and works of American literary giants Ernest Hemingway and Hart Crane,This Cleaving and This Burningreveals the passion and purpose behind masks of public reputation and creative expression. For readers of literary and historical fiction.

Previous Words of Praise “The counterpoint [in his work] between what is written and what is thought is so moving--and so provocative.” --Timothy Findley “What will remain with readers upon reading and re-reading is the sense of colour, clarity, and expression that is evident in Wainwright’s fully developed style.” --Halifax Chronicle-Herald “One feels confident as one does only with the best historical novels, that this [The Confluence] is exactly how it must have been.” --The Antigonish Review “…his carefully chosen language and distinct characterization [in The Last Artist] show his chops as a poet and biographer.” --The Dalhousie Review

HIghly intelligent novel by well-respected Canadian writer and academic J.A. Wainwright, which deals with LGBTQ and masculinity issues. The novel's literary qualities together with the author's research into Hemingway and Crane, historical America, and the meeting-ground of sexual desire and love make it a “must” for readers interested in a powerful confluence of language, story, and theme on the page.