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NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Edmund White, the groundbreaking man of letters who documented and imagined the gay revolution through journalism, essays, plays and such novels as 鈥淎 Boy鈥檚 Own Story鈥� and 鈥淭he Beautiful Room is Empty,鈥� has died. He was 85.

White鈥檚 death was confirmed Wednesday by his agent, Bill Clegg.

Along with Larry Kramer, Armistead Maupin and others, White was among a generation of gay writers who in the 1970s became bards for a community no longer afraid to declare its existence. He was present at the Stonewall raids of 1969, when arrests at a club in Greenwich Village led to the birth of the modern gay movement and for decades was a participant and observer through the tragedy of AIDS, the advance of gay rights and culture and the recent backlash.

A resident of New York and Paris for much of his adult life, he was a novelist, journalist, biographer, playwright, activist, teacher and memoirist. 鈥淎 Boy鈥檚 Own Story鈥� was a bestseller and classic coming-of-age novel that demonstrated gay literature鈥檚 commercial appeal. He wrote a prizewinning biography of playwright Jean Genet, books on Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud. He was a professor of creative writing at Princeton University, where colleagues included Toni Morrison and his close friend, Joyce Carol Oates.

鈥淎mong gay writers of his generation, Edmund White has emerged as the most versatile man of letters,鈥� cultural critic Morris Dickstein wrote in The New York Times in 1995. 鈥淎 cosmopolitan writer with a deep sense of tradition, he has bridged the gap between gay subcultures and a broader literary audience.鈥�

Childhood yearnings

White was born in Cincinnati in 1940, but age at 7 moved with his mother to the Chicago area after his parents divorced. His father was a civil engineer 鈥渨ho reigned in silence over dinner as he studied his paper.鈥� His mother was a psychologist 鈥済iven to rages or fits of weeping.鈥� Trapped in 鈥渢he closed, sniveling, resentful world of childhood,鈥� at times suicidal, White was at the same time a 鈥渇ierce little autodidact鈥� who sought escape through the stories of others, whether Thomas Mann鈥檚 鈥淒eath in Venice鈥� or a biography of dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

鈥淎s a young teenager I looked desperately for things to read that might excite me or assure me I wasn鈥檛 the only one, that might confirm my identity I was unhappily piecing together,鈥� he wrote in the 1991 essay 鈥淥ut of the Closet, On to the Bookshelf.鈥�

As he wrote in 鈥淎 Boy鈥檚 Own Story,鈥� he knew as a child that he was attracted to boys, but for years was convinced he must change 鈥� out of a desire to please his father (whom he otherwise despised) and a wish to be 鈥渘ormal.鈥� Even as he secretly wrote a 鈥渃oming out鈥� novel while a teenager, he insisted on seeing a therapist and begged to be sent to boarding school. One of the funniest and saddest episodes from 鈥淎 Boy鈥檚 Own Story鈥� told of a brief crush he had on a teenage girl, ended by a polite and devastating note of rejection.

鈥淔or the next few months I grieved,鈥� White writes. 鈥淚 would stay up all night crying and playing records and writing sonnets to Helen. What was I crying for?鈥�

Early struggles, changing times

Through much of the 1960s, he was writing novels that were rejected or never finished. Late at night, he would 鈥渄ress as a hippie, and head out for the bars.鈥� A favorite stop was the Stonewall, where he would down vodka tonics and try to find the nerve to ask a man he had crush on to dance. He was in the neighborhood on the night of June 28, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall and 鈥渁ll hell broke loose.鈥�

鈥淯p until that moment we had all thought homosexuality was a medical term,鈥� wrote White, who soon joined the protests. 鈥淪uddenly we saw that we could be a minority group 鈥� with rights, a culture, an agenda.鈥�

White鈥檚 debut novel, the surreal and suggestive 鈥淔orgetting Elena,鈥� was published in 1973. He collaborated with Charles Silverstein on 鈥淭he Joy of Gay Sex,鈥� a follow-up to the bestselling 鈥淭he Joy of Sex鈥� that was updated after the emergence of AIDS. In 1978, his first openly gay novel, 鈥淣octurnes for the King of Naples,鈥� was released and he followed with the nonfiction 鈥淪tates of Desire,鈥� his attempt to show 鈥渢he varieties of gay experience and also to suggest the enormous range of gay life to straight and gay people 鈥� to show that gays aren鈥檛 just hairdressers, they鈥檙e also petroleum engineers and ranchers and short-order cooks.鈥�

His other works included 鈥淪kinned Alive: Stories鈥� and the novel 鈥淎 Previous Life,鈥� in which he turns himself into a fictional character and imagines himself long forgotten after his death. In 2009, he published 鈥淐ity Boy,鈥� a memoir of New York in the 1960s and 鈥�70s in which he told of his friendships and rivalries and gave the real names of fictional characters from his earlier novels. Other recent books included the novels 鈥淛ack Holmes & His Friend鈥� and the memoir 鈥淚nside a Pearl: My Years in Paris.鈥�

鈥淔rom an early age I had the idea that writing was truth-telling,鈥� he told The Guardian around the time 鈥淛ack Holmes鈥� was released. 鈥淚t鈥檚 on the record. Everybody can see it. Maybe it goes back to the sacred origins of literature 鈥� the holy book. There鈥檚 nothing holy about it for me, but it should be serious and it should be totally transparent.鈥�