An eclectic and inquisitive memoir for readers of Maggie Nelson and Jeremy Atherton Lin, Say Nephew delves into the rich and complex mythology of gay uncles

Steven Pfau has been fortunate to come of age under the wings of many gay elders he's claimed as his unofficial uncles, but he feels especially lucky to have grown up with a blood-related uncle. Bruce, who came out as a teenager in 1950s Memphis and lived through many of the defining events of the gay liberation era, mentored Steven as a reader, writer, and a young queer man.

Even as Steven met other gay men of Bruce's generation, made more queer friends of his own age, and grew more conscious of his uncle's flaws and limitations, Bruce remained Steven's most important gay role model, the one who had made the deepest imprint on his sense of self. More and more, he viewed Bruce as both a unique fixture in his own upbringing and an archetypal figure within a much broader history-a link in a long lineage of uncles who initiate their nephews into gay life. Reflecting on the literal and figurative uncles in his own life, Steven asks, how should a nephew be?

Blending memoir and criticism, Steven explores the various roles a nephew might play, from an admirer and protégé to creative collaborator and friend. Both a coming-of-age story and a wide-ranging study of queer mentorship, Say Nephew is a wholly original and expansive consideration of queer mentorship.