The Lost Language of Cranes

The Lost Language of Cranes

The Lost Language of Cranes 1990s reprint book cover
Author	David Leavitt
Language	English
Publisher	Knopf
Publication date	01 January 1986 (1st edition)
Media type	Print

The Lost Language of Cranes is a novel by David Leavitt, first published in 1986. A British TV film of the novel was made in 1991. The film was released on DVD in 2009.

The Lost Language of Cranes was the second novel by David Leavitt, and deals primarily with the difficulties a young gay man, Philip Benjamin, has in coming out to his parents, Rose and Owen, and with their subsequent reactions.

Rose and Owen find out that their apartment block is to become a co-op. Rose visits her son, who lives in a shabby neighborhood; he says he likes to go to the East Village. One Sunday she takes a walk, goes to an automat and bumps into her husband. Owen then goes to a gay pornographic cinema, where a man leaves him his number.

Philip and Eliot are in bed; Philip gets up to do the dishes. He thinks back to how they met through Sally. Back to the parents, Owen gets back to his apartment, soaked through. Philip and Eliot then wake up; Philip seems keen on flatmate Jerene's research on lost languages. There is then an account of Jerene's childhood up to her coming out to her parents and being spurned by them. Philip and Eliot then talk about their experiences with men. Philip goes on to remember the way he would masturbate a lot and how he tried to ask girls out - and they refused. Finally, he recalls going to a gay pornographic cinema when he was seventeen.

Owen calls Alex Melchor and finds out it was a wrong number. Philip asks Eliot to introduce him to Derek and Geoffrey. Later, he goes to his parents' flat to look at Derek's books. Jerene is getting ready for a date. Philip meets Eliot's foster parents for dinner, then they go to a gay bar where Philip meets his old acquaintance Alex Kamarov. Outside, Eliot admits to being unsure about their relationship; nevertheless they return to Eliot's, where he teaches Philip how to shave properly.

Philip eventually comes out to his parents. His mother is tersely averse; his father says it is fine, though he starts weeping as soon as the young man has left.

In the library, Jerene reads an article about a child who emulates cranes as this was the only thing he would see out of his window from his cot, and his parents weren't about. He was then sent to a psych ward.