This post was updated September 7 at 3:33 p.m. It was also updated September 6 at 3:09 p.m. to remove a photo that did not meet Daily Bruin standards.
In his new book, “Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told,” author Jeremy Atherton Lin’s blend of the personal with the historic is anything but shallow.
The followup to his 2021 debut creative nonfiction “Gay Bar: Why We Went Out,” “Deep House” tells the story of UCLA alumnus Atherton Lin’s transnational relationship during the 1990s and early 2000s against the backdrop of same sex marriage’s path to legality. As much a personal account as it is a cultural and legal history of same sex marriage, Atherton Lin said the motivation to write “Deep House” came after the success of “Gay Bar” but ultimately evolved throughout the process of writing.
“I think the emphasis became a lot less on marriage itself, rather the immigration and the ways in which people fall in love across borders,” Atherton Lin said.
Although the narrative is centered around his own memories and experiences, Atherton Lin said historical research also played a critical role in his creative process. In addition to consulting boxes of his own personal letters and photographs from the time period, the project necessitated researching court cases and biographies of historical figures who played a role in the narrative. This kaleidoscope of sources helps readers bridge the gap between Atherton Lin’s personal experiences and the historical entities that invariably shaped them, said Atherton Lin’s sister Jenny Lin.
“This kind of toggling back and forth again really helps us to understand how all of our personal experiences relate to this wider political context that we find ourselves in,” Lin said. “And maybe you can think about learning from the past and looking at archival research, historical documents and these legal court cases – setting those in depth and also humanizing them.”
But the process of writing “Deep House” was seldom a solitary one. Often, Atherton Lin would pass along sections of the book centered around their shared Chinese American heritage to Lin, an expert in contemporary Chinese art and design, she said. Being able to read sections in which she was featured – such as a post-grad camping trip in Oregon she took with her brother and his partner – was another highlight of being in Atherton Lin’s creative orbit, Lin added.
The narrative settings of “Deep House” stretch far beyond Western coastlines and Supreme Court imaginings. Atherton Lin said exploring the domestic lives of historical figures was a goal during the writing process – especially those that were under threat of police investigation or court scrutiny due to their sexual orientation. In the end, Atherton Lin said these explorations led to a focal point of the book: finding out what a home is and how queer people have protected themselves by forming homes with each other.
“I get a lot of messages from young readers and particularly young queer readers, who I have provided kind of a gateway to them for investigating more queer history, and that was not a responsibility that I necessarily knew that I was signing up for,” Atherton Lin said.
Atherton Lin’s editor, Vivian Lee, said one element of Atherton Lin’s writing that never ceases to shine through amid the more serious personal and historical subjects at hand is his signature humor. While editing, Lee said she was struck by how skilled Atherton Lin was at building up scenes that are at once tender, funny and poignant. For Lee, one particularly impactful scene occurs at the end of “Deep House,” when Atherton Lin finally marries his partner.
“I think there’s this beautiful crescendo that happens, both on the craft side but also in the real life side of him getting to that place that I still think about, and for him to distill it in this incredibly tender – but then incredibly funny moment – is just such a Jeremy thing,” Lee said.
Since its publication June 3, the reception to “Deep House” has been profound, especially in the midst of the current political atmosphere in the United States, Atherton Lin said. Although the process of writing far preceded the 2024 election results and recent regressive Supreme Court cases, Atherton Lin said he hopes the account of the tumultuous period of his life during a similarly fraught period of American politics inspires readers to resist mainstream policies by bringing in a greater sense of empathy with each other.
“The main thing that I hope that people would take from both ‘Gay Bar’ and ‘Deep House’ is the act and art of coalition, and the fact that our concerns aren’t isolated, but are deeply entwined with other identity groups,” Atherton Lin said.
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