Paul Monette - Biography

Biography

Monette was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and graduated from Phillips Academy in 1963 and Yale University in 1967. Conflicted about his sexual orientation, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he taught writing and literature at Milton Academy. In 1978 he moved to West Hollywood with his romantic partner, lawyer Roger Horwitz. Monette's most acclaimed book, Borrowed Time, chronicles Horwitz's fight against and eventual death from AIDS. His 1992 memoir, Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, tells of his life in the closet before coming out, culminating with his meeting Horwitz in 1974. Becoming a Man won the 1992 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Monette also wrote the novelizations of the films Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Scarface (1983), Predator (1987) and Midnight Run (1988).

Monette's final years, before his own AIDS-related death, are chronicled in the film Paul Monette: On the Brink of Summer's End by Monte Bramer and Lesli Klainberg. "By the end of his life, Monette had healed most of his psychic wounds, but his rage persisted." Monette died in Los Angeles, California, where he lived with his partner of five years, Winston Wilde. Monette was survived by his partner, Winston Wilde; his father, Paul Monette Sr., and his brother, Robert Monette, who remains the appointed Trustee of the Monette Horwitz Trust.

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