The Cambridge History of Gay and Lbian Lerature - November 2014
Contents:
- GAY PULP FICTN - VTAGE
- GAY PULP BOOKS
- 1970’S GAY PULP
- I DIGIZED SOME GAY PULP FOR YOU
- LBIAN & GAY PULP FICTN
- GAY PULP FICTN
- 37 - GAY MALE AND LBIAN PULP FICTN AND MASS CULTURE
- GAY MEN -- FICTN
- BROWN UNIVERSY IS ARCHIVG GAY PULP FICTN TO PRERVE A MOMENT OF LGBTQ HISTORY
GAY PULP FICTN - VTAGE
Books shelved as gay-pulp: To Want a Boy by Bert Shrar, Go Down, Aaron by Chris Davidson, Happyland and Other Stori by Alexanr Goodman, A Summer on... * pulp fiction gay guy *
"The first wave of gay pulp fictn materialized the 1940s and was primarily posed of reprts of earlier mastream, rpected lerary fictn wh gay them.
Though lbian-themed pulp fictn was also beg produced at this time, they nsisted of origal stori wrten by men for a heterosexual male dience whereas the gay pulp fictn books were wrten by gay men for a wi rearship.
Relaxatn of censorship laws the 1960s led to a send wave of gay and lbian pulp fictn where was possible to publish work wh more explic sexual ntent and prent unapologetic queer characters. For both gays and lbians the new wrgs, which reached far more people than the earlier lerary fictn, "were both a visceral and visible marker of personal as well as group inty" acrdg to thor Michael Bronski.
GAY PULP BOOKS
The Gay Pulp Fictn Collectn nsists of over 1,100 fictns tl mass market paperback form on male homosexual and bisexual them, published om the 1940's through the 1990's. * pulp fiction gay guy *
Addnally, the back pag of the books, there were advertisements for homophile anizatns and spac for personal ads. ‘Rally Round the Fag’ one of ten vtage gay pulp novels starrg the popular character “Jackie Holm” om ‘The Man om C. Gay pulp novels have been around sce the 1930s when the sale of paperback books proliferated.
1970’S GAY PULP
Historilly, lbian pulp was much more popular than novels featurg the explos of gay men—and that is, of urse, bee the lbian pulp was wily purchased by straight dus. The populary of the novels ntued to rise durg 1940s though, as noted the book Where Thy Dark Eye Glanc: Queerg Edgar Allan Poe eded by pulp historian Steve Berman, the very first te “gay pulp” novel was published 1952 by thor Gee Viereck. Viereck, a former propaganda tool of the Nazis durg WWII thored the 195 page Men to Beasts that ed homosexual prison culture as a part of s storyle—somethg Viereck had observed first hand while he was locked up.
Senator Joseph McCarthy who addn to his spicns that mi, pkos and reds had managed to weasel their way to ernment posns, was also nvced that was swarmg wh homosexuals, probably mie, pko homosexuals, too. McCarthy sent his right-wg buddi to turn up the heat on the State Department claims which would rult the acknowledgment that 91 employe had been intified as “gay” and were fired unr the guise that they were a huge “secury risk.
I DIGIZED SOME GAY PULP FOR YOU
Senate lnched the ridiculo soundg vtigatn “Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts the Government”.
Upon the ncln of what is bt scribed as a gay wch hunt, the mtee was unable to intify any Amerin cizen who might have sold out the good-old U. This didn’t stop the mtee om publishg a post-operative paper which “nclively” tablished that a gay man or a lbian posssed “weak moral character” and that the cln of only one homosexual n “pollute a ernment office. Post office uld no longer refe to liver books that featured homosexualy, which, acrdg to rearch nducted by the Universy of Massachetts Prs led to a verable “explosn” of gay pulp novels.
Now that I’ve shared a b of the rich history surroundg gay pulp fictn, let’s take a look at some of the more hysteril, tongue--cheek vers that created such a stir back the 50s and 60s, shall we? The 1970s were a signifint time LGBTQ+ history, wh the Stonewall rts and the start of the gay rights movement.
LBIAN & GAY PULP FICTN
Gay Pulps were a form of romance novels that were wrten between the ’30s and the ’70s wh them of homosexualy (Bronski 3).
For this paper, we will look to pulp novels, specifilly gay pulps published the 1970s.
GAY PULP FICTN
Wh the explosn of the gay pulp dtry, we are lookg to answer how the gay novels affected the LGBTQ+ muny. And to explore other mon them, trop, and ias that are mon gay pulp fictn and across non-gay pulp romance novels.
We hope to start by zoomg on the gay pulp novels themselv, published only durg the 1970s. Fally, we plan to really take a ser dive to the effects of the Stonewall rts on the gay pulp dtry. The sourc will all f three tegori: is a novel, they are nsired to be gay pulp fictn the 1970s, and they are male-on-male romanc.
The sourc are Gay-Way by Richard Hornsby, Gay-Bikers by Michael Stt, A Rose for Caar, a part of the Carl and Corley papers, and fally, Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren.
37 - GAY MALE AND LBIAN PULP FICTN AND MASS CULTURE
Gay pulps are books that were cheap novels, ually produced for a ltle over $1, that ntaed them of male and female homosexualy. The pulp novels were the first-time gay men who had been reprented the romance novels dtry. The reviewers wre how Merricks 1974 published novel The Lord Won’t Md was the steppg stone for the wave of gay novels that says, “the first homosexual novel wh a happy endg” (Gay and Lbian Review).
Gay pulp fictn the 1970s clud many different topics, them, and trop that were very popular non-gay romance novels at the time.
We, as thors, are gog to explore why the stori were so ptivatg to the gay male dience and why the pulp novels beme a signifint part of LGBTQ history (Pulp fictn). In Gay-Way, we see the male protagonist scribed as betiful wh goln locks of hair.
GAY MEN -- FICTN
It follows a boy who, after havg his first gay experience high school, mov on a whim to LA. The boy tak the tra, where he has his send gay sexual experience wh an olr gentleman. He is disgted and ashamed of what he was dog Gay-Way “I feel huiated, I feel like a real queer” (Hornsby 16-17); after havg multiple gay sexual experienc, Davy tri to rob a man who is payg to have sex wh him.
Gay-Bikers revolv around two distant brothers who have been separated for the better half of 6 years. So once the olr brother Hugh fds out his younger brother Carey is the lear of a gay biker gang New York Cy, he cis is time for a rnn. In the first chapter, we are troduced to Hugh, a succsful bsman that owns the LGBTQ+ versn of Playboy magaze, properly named Gay boy.
Fast forward back to the prent, Carey then fds a lover, a man who turned gay and fell for Carey after beg kidnapped and given two optns, jt him or all his goons as well.
BROWN UNIVERSY IS ARCHIVG GAY PULP FICTN TO PRERVE A MOMENT OF LGBTQ HISTORY
This novel hs on many mon trop we have intified gay pulp fictn durg the 1970s. We wnsed Carey’s g-of-age story as well as his move to make a straight male gay. The books are perfectly tled, wh nam like Gay-Exorcist, Gay-Cise, and Gay-Psycho we have the feelg the will pture the same tone as Gay-Bikers.
Harlan Brown, an athletic director at the School Prtt College, ns to 3 nners, Vce Matti, Jacqu LaFont, and Billy Sive, after they were expelled om the Universy of Oregon for beg gay. It is relieved that Brown has always been gay, but he had a wife and dghter durg his time at Penn State.