The Stately Homo by Paul Bailey

Having failed in his ambition to be an invalid, Denis Charles Pratt was more successful in his metamorphosis into Quentin Crisp. Though reminiscent of a collection of funeral orations, this festschrift celebrates Crisp's sly wit and batty charm. No minimalist, he believed "Passion for order is a Nazi perversion." Bailey explains the failure of his sole outing in a dress ("no one bothered to look at him"), though our hero mused about having the op: "I could have opened a knitting shop in Carlisle."