Two unrelated, aspiring writers, born on the same day in the same year to parents with the same first names, grow up together and eventually gain national prominence as authors. As the years pass, the complex sexual identities of Miller Sark and Hal Pierce undermine their intense private relationship, inflicting damage that cannot be undone by the distinction of their fiction and poetry. Inspired by the lives and works of American literary giants Ernest Hemingway and Hart Crane, This Cleaving and This Burning reveals the passion and purpose behind masks of public reputation and creative expression.

J.A. Wainwright lives in Halifax where he is McCulloch Emeritus Professor in English at Dalhousie University. Since 1970 he has published five books of poetry, five novels, and two critical biographies. He has read and/or published his work in Canada, the U.S., the UK, and Europe.