As the classic gay novel “Cy of Night” turns 50, s Mexin-Amerin thor, John Rechy, reflects on lonels, growg up Deprsn-era El Paso, and how his life and reer me together.
Contents:
- WHAT WAS THE FIRST GAY NOVEL? A REARS’ SURVEY
- A FIRST GAY NOVEL, A POOR LATO BOYHOOD AND THE CONFLUENCE
- 13 VERY GAY AND VERY GOOD BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS PRI MONTH
WHAT WAS THE FIRST GAY NOVEL? A REARS’ SURVEY
* first gay novel *
We asked you to st your vote for “the first gay novel” – which is the theme of the new issue of The GLR. Another book that preced our lp was Bayard Taylor’s Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania, published 1870, wh the addnal subtle of “The First Gay Novel” a recent edn. The first gay novel I know of is om the late first century AD as The Satyrin, by Gai Petroni.
“Published 1870, before any of the others and a lot gayer, too, than the earlit on your list. Not today’s style, not well known, but there is, a fe gay novel.
A FIRST GAY NOVEL, A POOR LATO BOYHOOD AND THE CONFLUENCE
“The Young and The Evil was also published 1933 but is more queer than gay. So that was my first gay novel. Forster’s Mrice:“Although not published until Forster’s ath, this is the first openly gay novel on the list and the first book to scribe homosexualy as a way of beg the 20th century.
”“It was the first one wrten specifilly wh gay characters. On Marcel Prot’s In Search of Lost Time“It’s taken a long time for Prot’s world to traverse the journey om great lerary classic to major work of ‘gay’ fictn. But ’s an herently ‘gay’ quantum terms of the athetics obssively doted upon and the shear spe of ambn.
13 VERY GAY AND VERY GOOD BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS PRI MONTH
Framg terms of a gay subject actually creas peratn and unrstandg of the text and characters rather than g a shallowns of view. ”“Even though I am a gay man (now 76), when I read this the early 1950s, I was thrilled to fd women and men who were like myself who were neher crimals nor mentally ill.
On Gore Vidal’s The Cy and the Pillar:“I selected The Cy and the Pillar bee there were no ambigui about what the book was explorg: homosexual longg, love, and rejectn. ”“Vidal is one of the few openly gay wrers I knew about durg my early years of exploratn and learng who I really was. On Mary Renlt’s The Charteer:“All her historil novels opened a wdow of homo-eroticism to this teen-age boy stgglg wh his own inty.