©Dawn Bottoms/The New York Times
Edmund White, a groundbreaking author who was a pioneer of gay literature, died at 85. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1940. His fiction included the autobiographical trilogy A BOY’S OWN STORY, THE BEAUTIFUL ROOM IS EMPTY, and THE FAREWELL SYMPHONY, as well as CARACOLE, FORGETTING ELENA, NOCTURNES FOR THE KING OF NAPLES, and SKINNED ALIVE, a collection of short stories.