Although David Leavitt has been hailed as the enfant prodige of American literature as well as the spokesman of the new generation of gay writers, he has also been harshly criticized by some critics for having been overly superficial in his writing. While dealing with traditional topics such as the family, he also examines delicate subjects such as death and homosexuality. However, his writing is pervaded by a negative attitude which does not seem to reflect the American social structure of the 1980s but which is connected with the ideas expressed in his essay The New Lost Generation.