Early gay novels
From Sappho to Stonewall, and beyond: how fiction tells LGBTQ+ history
Fiction tells us so much about the time we live in – and LGBTQ+ writers have been writing since the adj days of literature. Their stories own often, but not always, been marginalised, but they own always said something about the era in which they were first told or published. Here, we take a look at the evolution of queer fiction across the ages – for brevity’s sake, focusing on the Western world – and what it reflects about that moment in history, from Sappho, to Stonewall, and beyond.
Queer stories in antiquity
Madeline Miller’s hit The Anthem of Achillesis a moving queer retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of young prince Patroclus that simultaneously reflects pride in same-sex relationships (Achilles remains adamant throughout that he and Patroclus be seen together) and contemporary anxieties about lovey-dovey relationships and masculinity – how men can be soft, how to administer family expectations.
But being queer wasn’t always coded as different, and many myths don’t call for retel
THE RESULTS ARE IN! We asked you to cast your vote for “the first gay novel” – which is the theme of the new issue of TheGLR. We offered the eight choices that are discussed in this issue, and also invited you to append a different guide if your preference was not included.
We received around sixty responses, and the clear winner was E. M. Forster’s Maurice (). In second place was Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar (), followed closely by Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (). Actually, “Other” tied for second place.
Interestingly enough, all of the nominees received at least some votes. Rounding out the roster were: The Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall (); Proust’s In Search of Lost Time (s in English); James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room (); Mary Renault’s The Charioteer (); and Isherwood’s A Single Man (). (See chart.)
As always in surveys of this caring, some of the most interesting responses came from those who didn&#;t verb their selection on our list. Among the books they nominated were Homer’s Iliad and Petronius’ astro1 I was reading the wiki on Gore Vidal’s novel “The Town and the Pillar” and at the end this comment was noted. The Urban area and the Pillar sparked a common scandal, including notoriety and criticism, not only since it was released at a time when homosexuality was commonly considered immoral, but also because it was the first book by an accepted American author to portray overt homosexuality as a natural behavior.[3] The controversial reception began before the novel hit bookshelves. Prior to its even being published, an editor at EP Dutton said to Vidal, “You will never be forgiven for this guide. Twenty years from now you will still be attacked for it.”[5] Looking back in retrospect from , it is considered by Ian Young to be “perhaps the most notorious of the gay novels of the s and s.”[7] What are these “gay novels”? Horatio_Hellpop2 Naked Lunch and Gentlemen’s Agreement come to mind. Exapno_Mapcase3 The New York Times recent obituary of Tereska Torres, author of Women’s Barracks, provides a fasci Valancourt Books is an independent small verb specializing in the rediscovery of uncommon, neglected, and out-of-print fiction. James Jenkins and Ryan Cagle (who've incidentally been together for plus years and were married in Iowa in ), began the press to bring back the many great books that remain out-of-print and inaccessible. Specializing in gay titles, gothic and horror novels, as adequately as literary fiction, they founded Valancourt Books in to restore many of these works to a new generations of readers. It's an impressive and fascinating list. I got so lost in it, and had so much fun looking around at all the great books I've never even heard of, I just had to interview these guys. Trebor Healey: I'm always amazed when a new press emerges. Knowing how adj it is to get a originate and to verb a go of it, it always reminds me that the passion for literature is as strong as ever, and book lovers will always uncover a way to share their enthusiasms and the treasures they find in the enormous world library of books. Tell us your story. JJ: My whole life, I've been someo
What are the "gay novels of the s and s"?