The lives of people both famous and obscure are filled with moments when their dirty laundry sees daylight. At such times we witness the reversibility of success, of prominence, but also come to terms viscerally with our own most vulnerable selves.

The lives of people both famous and obscure are filled with moments when their dirty laundry sees daylight. At such times we witness the reversibility of success, of prominence, but also come to terms viscerally with our own most vulnerable selves.

We cannot stop watching the scene of shame, identifying with it, absorbing its nearness, relishing our immunity, even as we acknowledge the universality of the human stain, the uneasy predicament of living in our own bodies.

Wayne Koestenbaum has published five books of poetry, one novel, and six books of non-fiction. A graduate of Harvard and Princeton, he is a distinguished professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center (New York) and also a visiting professor in the painting department of the Yale School of Art.