Yterday at Salon, Caleb Cra, thor of the highly praised novel Necsary Errors, talked a b about beg a gay novelist and the effects non-heterosexual subject matter has on the chanc for a novel’s publitn. In rponse to a qutn…
Contents:
- 21 CLASSIC WORKS OF GAY LERATURE
- 10 HORROR CLASSICS (YOU DIDN’T REALIZE WERE ABOUT BEG GAY)
- CLASSIC GAY MALE LERATURE
- GAY SUBTEXT BOOKS
21 CLASSIC WORKS OF GAY LERATURE
* classics with gay subtext *
Yterday at Salon, Caleb Cra, thor of the highly praised novel Necsary Errors, talked a b about beg a gay novelist and the effects non-heterosexual subject matter has on the chanc for a novel’s publitn. ” It’s te that seems silly and rctive to sist on settg gay wrers apart om their straight hort (although dog so n help raise awarens that they do, fact, exist), pecially sce there’s enough queer subtext popular lerature already.
Hton’s classic about rough-and-tumble teenage lquents 1960s Tulsa, and while the book is equently banned nsirg all the vlence, bad language, and unrage smokg and drkg, the homoerotic unrton of those boys’ bromanc have fely evad plenty of rears. Strangers on a Tra by Patricia HighsmhPatricia Highsmh was no stranger to homosexual overton — her antihero Tom Ripley was, sentially, a gay monster, and she even dipped her toe to the lbian bildungsroman genre — but her thriller Strangers on a Tra was a b more subtle s pictn of one man’s murro obssn wh another. Danvers, who is so obssed wh her former employer, the tular Rebec Wter, that one n’t help but read a b to the way she gently strok her perfectly kept nightcloth across her Club by Chuck PalahniAs this say pots out, ’s hard to claim that Fight Club has a gay subtext, as there is nothg particularly subtle about s homoeroticism.
The symbolism of Tyler splicg scen om hardre porn is a pretty good metaphor for Chuck Palahni trickg the macho lerary dience to lovg a pretty queer of Grass by Walt WhmanNoted homosexual Walt Whman clud several turns of phrase his llectn of poetry voted to the love of the male form, and l like, “O how shall I warble myself for the ad one there I loved? ” om “When Lilacs Last the Dooryard Bloom’d” — his o to the Civil War’s ad, particularly Abraham Lln — is jt the tip of the fey Budd by Herman Melville Let’s jt take a look at this passage om Melville’s novella, via Dana Sliva’s paper “Explorg Homoeroticism Herman Melville’s Novella Billy Budd, Sailor, ” which explas all:Claggart, the master-at-arms, official rattan hand, happened to be passg along…Steppg over [the soup], he was proceedg on his way whout ment, sce the matter was nothg to take notice of unr the circumstanc, when he happened to observe who was that had done the spillg…Psg, he was about to ejaculate somethg hasty at the sailor, but checked himself, and potg down to the streamg soup, playfully tapped him om behd wh his rattan, sayg a low mil voice peculiar to him at tim, ‘Handsomely done, my lad!
10 HORROR CLASSICS (YOU DIDN’T REALIZE WERE ABOUT BEG GAY)
On Friday, the Supreme Court led 5-4 that same-sex upl have a nstutnal right to wed, clearg the way for gay marriage natnwi. * classics with gay subtext *
LawrenceSure, the women of the tle — the unfortunately named Ursula and Gudn Brangwen — are ed love wh the typilly broodg Englishmen, but one nnot possibly ny the homosexual overton the nu wrtlg which Rupert Birk and Gerald Crich gleefully take Great Gatsby by F. ”For many years, as gay rights activists have fought for equal opportuny, lbian and gay wrers have penned works that provi a richer unrstandg of the joys and challeng of their liv.
21 classic works of gay lerature:Jam Baldw: “Gvanni’s Room” -- a man disvers his sexual inty ParisDjuna Barn: “Nightwood” -- early postmorn fictn of women Paris loveAlison Bechl: “Fun Home: A Fay Tragiic” -- a graphic novel memoir of her troubled gay father and her own g out, recently adapted as a Tony award-wng Broadway showRa Mae Brown: “Rubyu Jungle” -- the 1973 tale of a young woman’s g of ageWilliam S.
CLASSIC GAY MALE LERATURE
Upon the 75th anniversary of The Malte Faln's release, 's time to look at the gay myths ntaed the Hollywood perennial. * classics with gay subtext *
Burroughs: “Naked Lunch” -- the landmark experimental novel’s gay sex scen ma the foc of a breakthrough obsceny trialRichard Elmann: “Osr Wil” -- bgraphy of the lively wrer whose gay relatnship got him sent to prison for “gross cency”E. Forster: “Mrice” -- this love story, wrten when homosexualy was illegal England, was published posthumolyRadclyffe Hall: “The Well of Lonels” -- groundbreakg lbian novel of the 1920sE.
Lynn Harris: “Invisible Life” -- an Ain Amerin law stunt’s sexual disveryAllen Gsberg: “Howl” -- the poem was subject to an obsceny trial part bee of s explic gay themJean Ge: “Our Lady of the Flowers” -- published 1944, portrays sexual adventur Paris’ crimal unrgroundAnthony M.
------------Armistead Mp: “Tal of the Cy” ma character Michael Tolliver’s life portrayed over a seri of novels set gay-iendly San FrancisPl Mote: “Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir” -- a breathtakg yet matter-of-fact, day-by-day acunt of the ath of his longtime partner om AIDSAnnie Proulx: “Brokeback Mounta” a story of wboys love, om the llectn “Close Range, ” which beme the Osr-wng filmJohn Rechy: “Cy of Night” -- a novel of gay street htlers the 1950sSappho: “The Complete Poems” -- women’s love poetry om the 7th century BCHubert Selby Jr. SJ Sdu, thor of Marriage of a Thoand Li, lled , "One of the first Anglophone works to challenge the trope of the sad/suicidal gays who die at the end, this book gave a blueprt of what queer fictn uld look like.
GAY SUBTEXT BOOKS
Forster (A Passage to India, A Room Wh a View, Howards End) wrote the benchmark gay novel Mrice cir 1913, was published posthumoly a lh tale of manners, posn, and sire, the tular character meets and falls for his classmate Clive while at Oxford. The pair embark on a two-year affair until Clive leav Mrice to marry a woman and live out his proscribed life as part of the land gentry, leavg Mrice shambl and seekg to cure his Forster's novel do not end gay tragedy.
Alan Hollghurst famoly qutned the future of the gay novel this year, which is strikg sce he's often viewed as helpg make queer books accsible to a mastream dience. The queer g-of-age novel about Jim Willard and his search for love was the first novel om a rpected wrer (Gore Vidal) to speak directly and sympathetilly about the gay experience an era when homosexualy was still very much taboo. The book is remembered today for this legacy as well as for var them -- Hollywood's glass closet, beg gay the ary, the poisono effects of homophobia on society -- that still reverberate today.