#lgbtq literature

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

The Early Gay Best Sellers, 1930s–1940s

Created in 1931 as a short and somewhat irregular ranking, The New York Times Best Seller list has become the leading report on what American readers are currently consuming. If a book makes the list, that basically means it managed to break into the literary mainstream sphere, with all the glory that such a thing can bring.

The list is also a simple way to identify the rise of certain trends and genres. And since there doesn’t seem to be a comprehensive examination of this when it comes to gay literature, I decided to take it upon myself to produce something like that.

This is the first part of a series of posts that attempt to track the slow rise of gay fiction in the American imaginary. My criteria for selecting the works was the presence of a gay/non-straight male protagonist, since that's the niche I specialize in. This means that negative characterizations can also be found here — although I would say that the vast majority of the books featured in these posts at least try to be sympathetic to homosexuals.

Only two pre-World War II novels managed to meet the criteria, which shows how any assertive textual instance of homosexuality could be highly controversial at that time. The publication of the first Kinsey report (Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, in 1948) and the advent of war clearly brought a loosening of norms and some new perspectives on the matter, as shown by the sudden boom of titles — some of which would eventually become classics. War creates many homosocial spaces, after all.

Serenade (1938) by James M. Cain

A formerly gay opera singer falls in love with a female Mexican prostitute, which leads to all sorts of shenanigans: that's the basic premise of the wacky and controversial Serenade. The way Cain develops many of the novel's themes can certainly be considered dated by our modern standards: for example, he bases his characterization of the protagonist on a pseudoscientific theory of the time, which claimed that homosexual singers were artistically deficient (!).

Cain's debut novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), was instantly hailed as an American classic, which probably explains why he was able to get away with such a risqué plot in his follow-up work. Although Serenade sold moderately well, it fell short of the author's and his publisher's expectations. A film adaptation loosely based on the novel was released in 1956, without any trace of the original story's homosexual themes.

The Lost Weekend (1944) by Charles Jackson

Largely inspired by the author's own experiences, The Lost Weekend is a sorrowful tale about five days in the life of an alcoholic writer named Don Birnam. Birnam is described as a "crypto-homosexual": flashbacks show his lifelong struggle with same-sex attraction, one of the main factors that led him to addiction. The novel became a big success, selling over half a million copies in the first five years after its release.

Much like what happened with Serenade, The Lost Weekend’s classic film adaptation — which won the 1946 Academy Award for Best Picture — eliminates any mention of homosexuality.

Brideshead Revisited (1945) by Evelyn Waugh

This overview of the rapidly declining world of the British aristocracy proved so popular with American readers that it even surprised Waugh himself. The description of the relationship between Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte comes very close to being explicitly homosexual, but even then, there’s Anthony Blanche’s open flamboyance to make the whole thing clear.

The newly expanded best seller list made it easier for Brideshead Revisited to make a very solid 25-week run. MGM toyed with the idea of ​​a film adaptation in the late 1940s, but ultimately Waugh decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

The Fall of Valor (1946) by Charles Jackson

After the success of The Lost Weekend, Jackson decided to go even further with his sad homosexual narratives: The Fall of Valor is a story about a closeted middle-class man in a loveless marriage and his infatuation with a handsome Marine.

It is surprising how little is said about this title, considering it's probably the earliest example of an actual "gay novel" to appear on the best seller list. Its success is truly remarkable and probably made it easier for other explicitly gay-themed books to be published.

Knock on Any Door (1947) by Willard Motley

Knock on Any Door follows the life of young Italian hoodlum Nick Romano as he struggles to survive on the streets of Chicago. By 1950, the novel had already sold 350,000 copies.

To make money, Nick allows himself to be picked up by “phonies” (i.e., homosexual men) and even befriends one of them. As usual, its 1949 film adaptation removed these kinds of details.

The Sling and the Arrow (1947) by Stuart Engstrand

Perhaps the clearest example of negative characterization found in this entire research, The Sling and the Arrow serves more as a cautionary tale than a plea for tolerance: It is as if Engstrand tried to instill every fatalistic stereotype — not just gay ones, but also some about transgender people — into the protagonist, another closeted middle-class man. The novel’s sensationalist approach gave it enough visibility to achieve best seller status.

The Gallery (1947) by John Horne Burns

The Gallery is the debut novel by Burns, a World War II army officer. It consists of 17 interconnected stories about life in Allied-occupied North Africa and Naples, featuring multiple characters. Three of these stories — "Momma," "The Leaf," and "Queen Penicillin" — feature gay soldiers.

Although the novel wasn’t a phenomenal success with the general public, it was lauded by critics and ended up being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, which gave it some longevity. By September 1953, its paperback edition had sold nearly half a million copies.

The City and the Pillar (1948) by Gore Vidal

The City and the Pillar wasn't only a literary breakthrough but also the explosive entrance of one of the most prominent and controversial mid-century intellectuals of the United States. While the mere presence of a sexually active homosexual protagonist was shocking in itself, what is truly remarkable here is the introduction of a comprehensive depiction of the gay subculture to a broad audience — perhaps for the first time ever. The novel sold nearly 30,000 copies in a three-year period.

Vidal took some flak over the title — while The City and the Pillar made its best seller list, The New York Times refused to advertise the novel — but, as had become his wont, he simply brushed it off and moved on. His high-profile presence meant that the American media simply could no longer ignore the existence of homosexuality.

Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948) by Truman Capote

Just a week after The City and the Pillar debuted, another breakthrough hit the best seller list: a coming-of-age story about a lonely, effeminate Southern boy inspired by Capote’s own life, Other Voices, Other Rooms had a very similar run to Pillar. And like Vidal, Capote also became a public figure and is now considered one of the founders of the New Journalism style.

The first edition of Other Voices, Other Rooms reportedly sold 26,000 copies. 20th Century Fox bought the rights to the novel before it even hit the shelves, but a film adaptation was never made.

[leafdoggy]

Hi read my book please

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/105805/why-do-only-guys-get-to-have-harems

This is a litrpg about, well... Kinda what it says on the tin! A girl named Jojo gets isekai'd, and during the process notices that the 'harem' option is hidden away if you're a girl, so she takes it out of spite (along with some more standard cheat powers :p )

Oh, and she's gay!

It's a chill story with a little comedy, a little action, a little romance, and a lot of cute girls all bundled together. I'd love it if you checked it out!

[books-as-mood-boards]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐬 // madeline miller

“𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐥; 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.”

[gennsoup]

Funny how a house can be more than just four walls: the center of the universe, the one place your father is happy, an obsession.

Trang Thanh Tran, She is a Haunting

[never-enough-time-zine]

🏞️ Never Enough Time: a Brokeback Mountain 20th Anniversary Fanzine Contributor Applications are Now Open! 🏞️

If you're interested in being a part of Never Enough Time: a Brokeback Mountain 20th Anniversary Fanzine, click on the application link here!

📅 Applications will be open from January 24th through February 23rd at 11:59PM MST.

📌 Applicants will hear back from the zine on March 2nd by 11:59PM MST.

[numnum-num]

[turtletotem]

Attention! Free Books!

So my publisher, JMS Books, is trying their best to spread queer cheer in this trying time by giving away FREE QUEER ROMANCE EBOOKS for a whole week! From April 27-May 3, there are tons of free ebooks available, including three authored by yours truly! Two under the name Shelly Greene, one under Elizabeth Belyeu (that one’s actually not queer but quite enjoyable anyway, I think).

The whole list of free books is here!

[shadows-on-the-sky]

Ensan Case 1980 Interview

Published in the April 1980 issue of the newspaper Mom... Guess What!

[bones-ivy-breath]

Medusa with the Head of Perseus by Torrin A. Greathouse, from Wound From the Mouth of a Wound

[fixaidea]

Some cosy post-canon Jean and Muirin :)

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

Edmund White, who became a pioneer in gay literature by mining his own varied catalog of sexual experiences in more than 30 books and hundreds of articles and essays, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 85.

For several decades, Mr. White’s therapists, with his encouragement, tried to “cure” him of homosexuality, which at the time was considered a mental illness. A more successful form of therapy was writing, he said. Writing, he told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2006, “has always been my recourse when I’ve tried to make sense of my experience or when it’s been very painful.”

Mr. White’s output was almost equally divided between fiction and nonfiction. Many of his books were critical successes, and several were best-sellers. The Chicago Tribune labeled him “the godfather of queer lit.”

He was a star almost from the beginning. The New York Times called Forgetting Elena (1973), about the rituals of gay life on a fictionalized Fire Island, “an astonishing first novel, obsessively fussy, and yet uncannily beautiful.” His second novel, Nocturnes for the King of Naples (1978), took the form of letters from a young gay man to his deceased ex-lover.

A Boy’s Own Story (1982), a tale of coming out set in the 1950s, was narrated by a teenager who bore more than a passing resemblance to a young Mr. White. His other semi-autobiographical novels, The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988) and The Farewell Symphony (1997), follow the same unnamed protagonist into adulthood during the 1960s, then through the horrors of AIDS as he approaches middle age.

He was one of seven members of The Violet Quill, a gay writers’ group founded in 1979 that included the soon-to-be celebrated authors Andrew Holleran and Felice Picano. The members met regularly to critique one another’s work. In 1982, he helped found the group Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City.

His nonfiction works included a number of memoirs. My Lives (2005), one of his best-reviewed books, chronicles his first 65 years with chapter titles that include “My Shrinks, “My Hustlers” and “My Blonds.” He zeroed in on his life in 1960s and ’70s New York with City Boy (2009), and on his life away from New York with Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris (2014).

The Joy of Gay Sex (1977), a how-to based on the 1972 best seller The Joy of Sex, was a groundbreaking effort that became somewhat obsolete once fears of H.I.V. made safe sex far more common. Its co-author was Charles Silverstein, a therapist who had been treating Mr. White until a publisher suggested that they collaborate, not knowing they were already well acquainted.

His nonfiction works also include biographies of the French authors Jean Genet, Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud.

While some of his peers tried to separate their sexuality from their work, Mr. White embraced the term “gay writer.” As he explained in City Boy, “If I’d been straight, I would have been an entirely different person. I would never have turned toward writing with a burning desire to confess, to understand, to justify myself in the eyes of others.”

His life provided ample material for the prolific writer he was. “White has accumulated enough sexual partners,” Peter Conrad wrote in The Guardian in 2005, “to fill the telephone directory of a moderate-sized city.”

In 1995, he began a relationship with Michael Carroll, a writer 25 years his junior. The men lived together in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and married in 2013. But Mr. White had no intention of being monogamous. In 2006, he told The Sydney Morning Herald that their relationship “is probably like an 18th-century marriage in France.”

In addition to his husband, he is survived by his sister, Margaret.

(Full article)

[serialsensation]

Welcome to the first day of Serial Sensation' community read of (drum roll please for the full title) The Fastest Girl in New York; or, The Beauty in Man’s Clothes. She rides a fast horse—captivates gay damsels—fascinates fast men—plays billiards like a grand master—fiddles with the grace of Paganini—dances a la Taglioni—sings like an angel—visits all kinds of sporting places—and charms all sorts of people. The most brilliant and fascinating book ever published.

We hope you enjoy and would love to hear your thoughts! We also have a Discord community you can join through the Substack site or here (Google Form) if you're interested.

[books-as-mood-boards]

𝒸𝒾𝓇𝒸𝑒 // madeline miller

[gennsoup]

"Strike me down. You've won. I've lived my whole wretched life at your mercy, yours alone, and God knows I deserve to die at your hand. You are my only friend. I am undone without you."

Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth

[literary-fiend]

i forgot to post my May reads on here😪

[allthewayaround]

BOOK REC! - DESCRIPTION

Not finished yet but it’s a very insightful read!

Nuances of intersectional activism amongst other things- I think anyone could benefit from reading even just a few pages