Gay books

[Corneles]

I have a wow selection of gay literature dating back to the early seventies.  I know there are many more before the 70's and I haven't read much of those.  The selection I have includes: Ethan Morrden, Edmund White, Andrew Holleran, Felice Picano, Michael Grumley, Robert Ferro, Christopher Cox, George Whitmore, Michael Carson, Tom Spanbauer, Paul Monette, Lev Rapheal and David Leavitt.  

 

If you know of any authors prior to the sixties, please let me know.  I mean, wasn't Mae West gay and she is ancient, I'd love to read her life story if I can get hold of the book.  Oscar Wilde aside, and Dh Lawrence aside (I have tons of DH Lawrence) any other authors that you know were gay.  I mean I could google them but I'd like to know your preferences. 

 

 

[Suvitar]

E.M. Forster (1879 - 1970) comes to mind. He wrote a lot, for instance "Maurice". Great book and even the film based on it is good.

[Suvitar]

Almost forgot. One of my all time favourites is Evelyn Waugh´s Brideshead Revisited.

[Thorn Wilde]

Christopher Isherwood. He wrote, among other things, A Single Man, which was made into a film with Colin Firth a couple of years back. He was also mates with W.H. Auden, famous gay poet. 

[Sasha Distan]

i love Tom Spanbauer. his first book is nigh impossible to get a hold of.

[Zombie]

Two Jameses - Henry James and Montague "Monty" Rhodes James - both almost certainly closet homosexuals who, because of the times they lived in (late 19th / early 20th century) could not come out or be openly gay. I've never been a fan of Henry James but I love the ghost stories of MRJ He never married and he worked his entire life with male students at schools and university. He had passionate feelings towards a much younger friend, James McBryde and MRJ was heart-broken when James died suddenly
 

 

All books and stories of both authors are freely available on Project Gutenberg

Edited February 11, 2014 by Zombie

[Ashi]

You guys stole the the ones I know....  How about Virginia Wolfe?

[Tomas]

Jay Little, pseudonym of Clarence L. Miller

 

"Maybe Tomorrow" (1952)

"Somewhere Between the Two" (1956)

 

There are probably other titles, but I doubt that any of them are available. I know that the two listed are very difficult to find.

[Zombie]

No-one's read the gay novels by the English writer Mary Renault? These were published from the 1950s after she moved to South Africa so she could live as openly gay with her lover. I think there was one contemporary novel but most were historical set in Ancient Greece.

[Palantir]

Mary Renault gay? Well, I've never heard that before.

I've read and re-read the Philip trilogy a number of times. - but never looked on it as 'gay novels', rather as novels with a gay element to them.

[Red_A]

No-one's read the gay novels by the English writer Mary Renault? These were published from the 1950s after she moved to South Africa so she could live as openly gay with her lover. I think there was one contemporary novel but most were historical set in Ancient Greece.

I read these when I was a teenager,

The Last of the Wine (1956)

The King Must Die (1958)

The Bull from the Sea (1962)

The Mask of Apollo (1966)

I thought they were very good.

I did not read “The Persian Boy (1972)” until 10 years ago. I believe it comes into this category. Although I was shocked by the difference from her early work, I would recommend it to anyone including my maiden aunts

 

The contemporary novel is     The Charioteer     I have not read it but have had good reports of it

The other one which I am told is good is the Praise singer. I have only read tiny sections of it before it was borrowed?

[Tomas]

Forgot about Mary Renault. I think I've read just about all of her works.

 

Another book that I recall is Patricia Nell Warren's 1974 novel "The Front Runner". They have been trying to develop this into a movie for years and now it seems the SCOTUS and other federal courts rulings on DOMA and same sex marriage have somewhat cleared some of the obstacles and there has been talk of going ahead with development.

[Graeme]

Forgot about Mary Renault. I think I've read just about all of her works.

 

Another book that I recall is Patricia Nell Warren's 1974 novel "The Front Runner". They have been trying to develop this into a movie for years and now it seems the SCOTUS and other federal courts rulings on DOMA and same sex marriage have somewhat cleared some of the obstacles and there has been talk of going ahead with development.

I wonder what those obstacles were, since DOMA and same-sex marriage are irrelevant to the story. Is it that the producers didn't think a gay-themed movie would be successful? I would've thought that Brokeback Mountain would prove them wrong. In some ways, at a high level it has a similar plot to The Front Runner, which is the first piece of gay fiction I ever read (sneaking into the book store from time to time to read another chapter -- I was very much in the closet at the time and couldn't afford to buy it and have it found).

Edited February 13, 2014 by Graeme