Early gay novels
Valancourt Books is an independent miniature press specializing in the rediscovery of rare, neglected, and out-of-print fiction. James Jenkins and Ryan Cagle (who've incidentally been together for plus years and were married in Iowa in ), began the press to take back the many great books that remain out-of-print and inaccessible. Specializing in gay titles, gothic and horror novels, as successfully as literary fiction, they founded Valancourt Books in to heal many of these works to a new generations of readers. It's an impressive and fascinating list. I got so missing in it, and had so much fun looking around at all the great books I've never even heard of, I just had to interview these guys.
Trebor Healey: I'm always amazed when a new pressurize emerges. Knowing how difficult it is to get a commence and to make a depart of it, it always reminds me that the passion for literature is as strong as ever, and book lovers will always find a way to share their enthusiasms and the treasures they find in the enormous world library of books. Tell us your story.
JJ: My whole life, I've been someo
From Sappho to Stonewall, and beyond: how fiction tells LGBTQ+ history
Fiction tells us so much about the time we live in – and LGBTQ+ writers have been writing since the early days of literature. Their stories own often, but not always, been marginalised, but they have always said something about the era in which they were first told or published. Here, we take a glance at the evolution of queer fiction across the ages – for brevity’s sake, focusing on the Western world – and what it reflects about that moment in history, from Sappho, to Stonewall, and beyond.
Queer stories in antiquity
Madeline Miller’s hit The Song of Achillesis a moving queer retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of young prince Patroclus that simultaneously reflects pride in same-sex relationships (Achilles remains adamant throughout that he and Patroclus be seen together) and modern anxieties about lovey-dovey relationships and masculinity – how men can be gentle, how to control family expectations.
But creature queer wasn’t always coded as different, and many myths don’t require retel
What are the "gay novels of the s and s"?
astro1
I was reading the wiki on Gore Vidal’s novel “The Capital and the Pillar” and at the end this comment was noted.
The Urban area and the Pillar sparked a common scandal, including notoriety and criticism, not only since it was released at a time when homosexuality was commonly considered immoral, but also because it was the first book by an accepted American storyteller to portray overt homosexuality as a natural behavior.[3] The controversial reception began before the novel hit bookshelves. Prior to its even being published, an editor at EP Dutton said to Vidal, “You will never be forgiven for this manual. Twenty years from now you will still be attacked for it.”[5] Looking back in retrospect from , it is considered by Ian Young to be “perhaps the most notorious of the gay novels of the s and s.”[7]
What are these “gay novels”?
Horatio_Hellpop2
Naked Lunch and Gentlemen’s Agreement come to mind.
Exapno_Mapcase3
The New York Times recent obituary of Tereska Torres, author of Women’s Barracks, provides a fasci
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Laura Sackton is a gay book nerd and freelance writer, known on the internet for loving winter, despising summer, and going overboard with extravagant baking projects. In addition to her work at Guide Riot, she reviews for BookPage and AudioFile, and writes a weekly newsletter, Books & Bakes, celebrating queer lit and tasty treats. You can grab her on Instagram shouting about the queer books she loves and sharing photos of the walks she takes in the hills of Western Mass (while listening to audiobooks, of course).
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This year marks the 51st official Pride celebration. The first Pride March took place in New York Municipality in June , to commentate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. A lot has changed since , including homosexual literature. There are a lot more queer books being published now, and they&#;re more readily reachable to more people. It&#;s a wonderful thing. But just like queer people, queer books have always been he