The Gay Canon on JSTOR

Contents:

• ESTABLISHG THE GAY CANON
• THE GAY CANON
• THE GAY RIGHTS CANON AND THE RIGHT TO NONMARRIAGE
• THE GAY NON
• THE GAY CANON: GREAT BOOKS EVERY GAY MAN SHOULD READ - SOFTVER

ESTABLISHG THE GAY CANON

The Gay Canon on JSTOR. As the first Profsor of Gay and Lbian Studi ever appoted the UK, Gregory Woods has loted gay lerature throughout the mastream non, broaned the non of gay lerature, and monstrated creative practice the potential pth and plexy of gay lerature. His work has exerted a signifint impact on gay creative/cril practners, on teachers, arts admistrators and booksellers, as well as on the general rear, gay or not.

He has also signifintly rmed and fluenced the ntent of tn beyond his host is an exceptnal example of wrer, amic and muny activist who has brought his work directly to muny groups and public servic to addrs and challenge homophobia, promote mental health and aspiratn among margalized young people and promote HIV/AIDS awarens and HIV preventn (e. He has ncentrated on regnal events for library servic, the NHS, lol thori, and lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr groups. He participated discsns on gay lerature at Leicter’s Stat of Inpennce pennt prs day and at Nottgham / shire librari rears' day and spoke on gay erotic lerature at Parlare, Royal Ftival Hall, London.

He gave workg addrs at Ashfield District Council and the Nottgham/shire Healthre Tst Employee Partnership Conference, and was gut of honour and keynote speaker at the annual Rabow Herage Awards eveng (Febary 2013), Nottgham Council has further veloped his public engagement through onle social media: his webse has had 32, 000 viss; his new blog 1, 600+ viss; and he has 1, 400+ followers on ' cril work is foundatnal gay studi, and is tght universi worldwi. It was ed as an anisatnal mol for The Gay Mormon Lerature Project (2009-) by Gerald Argetsger, Rochter Instute of Technology.

THE GAY CANON

More broadly, mastream lerary studi, A History of Gay Lerature is the standard text, referenced such textbooks as Pope, The English Studi Book (Routledge 2002), Bertens, Lerary Theory: The Basics (Routledge 2008), Barry, Begng Theory (MUP 2009) has facilated gay amic rearch many further ways. Woods was at NTU om 1990 to 2013, Profsor of Gay and Lbian Studi om 1998. The first such appotment the UK, this is listed Stonewall's timele of signifint events gay history.

Woods' chairg (2004-2013) of the Genr Studi expert panel for the European Science Foundatn's European Reference Inx for the Humani extend his work on the enablg and broang of gay lerary standard late 20th-century cril rponse to gay lerature was that: no good thor's homosexualy had signifint bearg on his work; to read as havg such a bearg was to lim the work's claim on universaly; great wrers uld therefore not be clud a gay non wh their greatns tact; a non of unambiguoly gay wrg was, by fn, narrow spe and low the 1990s, Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act had hibed public discsn of homosexualy sce 1988 and the World Health Organizatn had only jt classified as a mental illns (1992); but batn therapi had begun to temper the ravag of AIDS, the e of nsistent levels of homophobia the media.

THE GAY RIGHTS CANON AND THE RIGHT TO NONMARRIAGE

Workg to validate gay culture at a time of extreme social prsure, Woods wrote the first History of Gay Lerature to a missn om Yale Universy Prs.

Wily regard as havg fed the parameters of the field, ntaed the first ser gay-studi examatn of black Ain lerature, and the first, outsi Germany, of gay Holot lerature; s fal chapter, on poetry and paradox, served as a manifto for Woods' own book's ma fdgs were thatexistg mentari were ficient their lack of attentn to gay them, tendg to seek them only on the margs, narrow their mappg of the field, and shallow the pabili attributed to gay cricism uld intify a much broar range and eper reach of texts at the centre of the mastream, of potential signifince to all ' poetry (five Car llectns sce 1992) belongs to the same project, rearchg alternative mos of sire, g varied poetic forms, a key aim beg the e of virtuosic technique and thematic nuance to refute the received ia that gay lerature nsists of narrow special pleadg and raw tobgraphy.

This exploratn of forms has rerced the sense of a received gay tradn to which he is ntributg. Workg towards social cln, his creative project brgs the homoerotic and homosocial to the centre of social and cultural life, jt as his cril wrg reads gay lerature as beg central — and sential — to the non. Rponnts attted to a profound and lastg impact that extends across tnal, creative, social, and cultural ntexts: "I've e back to the [History of Gay Lerature] aga and aga over the years, and ntu to offer sight and guidance".

THE GAY NON

"He has ma me realise the huge plexy and richns of gay lerature and s centraly wh Wtern culture" cril and creative work has had a profound effect on wrers: "He helps me feel ls alone my work"; "His early studi... Broar impact was felt by rears general, empowerg their sense of gay inty: he "helped me formg my own inty as a gay man".

"As a gay man, I have found my own life and experience elucidated". "He is the most important poet wrg on gay them outsi the USA.

THE GAY CANON: GREAT BOOKS EVERY GAY MAN SHOULD READ - SOFTVER

Rrected many of the stereotyp of gay men popular culture".

Tóibín ed his London Review of Books review of as the openg chapter of Love a Dark Time: Gay Liv om Wil to Almódovar (2002).

Michael Fnissy clud a mil portra of Woods "Seventeen Immortal Homosexual Poets”, the re sectn of his epic piano work The History of Photography Sound, premiered at the Royal Amy of Mic (January 2001) and published by OUP; released on 5 CDs, performed by Ian Pace (October 2013). A History of Gay Lerature: The Male Tradn.