Research (Daniel) New Historical Lens: “HIV/AIDS: Snapshots of an Epidemic.” AmfAR, https://www.amfar.org/thirty-years-of-hiv/aids-snapshots-of-an-epidemic/.

HIV and Aids are a lesser spoken issue in modern day society, although treatment and knowledge of these diseases are more profound than what it was compared to the early 1970s (when the Immortalists takes place) it is still a rather touchy subject since so little is concrete to this day. What is solidified is that it is commonly transmitted through sex and often disproportionately affects gay men, “gay men, represent only 2%–7% of the U.S. population, 70% of all new HIV infections in 2019 were in this group,” and “Initial use of the term gay-related immune deficiency (GRID) or “gay cancer” by the media and others mistakenly suggests an inherent link between homosexuality and the new disease,” In reference to this, Chloe Benjamin uses this within her book, as Simon encaptures everything there is within these ideas. He dies the quickest, and is among the 4 other candidates, much more selfish and seemingly has sex as a bad habit.

Karston Singleton:

WCBS 880, director. Author Talks: Chloe Benjamin Discusses “The Immortalists”. 2018. Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etzIy2P1MK8.

This Video explained a lot in terms of who Chloe Benjamin is. It helped us understand her choices. An interesting facet of her writing is the fact that no one in the story is really a “villain.” Everyone makes bad decisions- even our protagonists. Knowing that she’s very empathetic explains this part of her writing. She doesn’t demonize any of her characters as she tries to understand where they are coming from. This is a choice-driven story more than anything else. Her growing up with a set of gay parents also explains the level of care she puts into Simon’s section. My groupmates and I all agree that that section is arguably the best and most fleshed out.

Yohanna Heyer 1) Lens: New historicism 2) The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin 3) Anthony, Andrew. “’We Were so Scared’: Four People Who Faced the Horror of AIDS in the 80s.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 31 Jan. 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/31/we-were-so-scared-four-people-who-faced-the-horror-of-aids-in-the-80s (Links to an external site.) . 4) This article was about the fear in US society induced by the AIDS epidemic. Prior to reading this article, I had already known that AIDS ran rampant in the gay community because people were not educated on the need to use condoms to protect infections. I knew that because society was so homophobic, this only made it worse. Now people were afraid of gay people and felt as if they were being punished. I did not know that at the beginning of the epidemic in the US people believed that Haitians were more likely to have AIDS, which probably would have furthered the ill treatment that Robert received as being a Black gay man and fueled the disconnect between Simon and Robert. Reading this text gave further insight as to how Simon spent his last days and how his family thought about him once he passed.

Soundcloud link:
https://tinyurl.com/mh34d9wb

El Newburger and Maya Robinson