The Columbia anthology of gay literature : readings from Western antiquity to the present day

In the three decades since New York City's Stonewall rebellion, gay literature has exploded as a distinctive form of cultural expression. In a variety of styles and genres, gay men have increasingly begun to articulate their sexual identities. At the same time, gay writers and scholars have begun in earnest the search for a literary history long denied by the refusal to recognize homosexual love as an integral part of Western literature.

Rezensionen (3)

Kirkus-Rezension

Editor Fone (English/CUNY) offers what may well be the landmark gay anthology the publisher claims it to bea volume that, unlike similar collections, includes a broad range of genres. Even straights should be moved by the passion in much of the material here, especially the Walt Whitman and Constantine Cavafy poems. Selections begin with Sumerian lore, span classical Greek and Latin, continue through European, English, Latin American, and American literary periods, and end with modern gay writing since 1969 (James Baldwin, Edmund White, and others). Less canonical than Whitman, Auden, Baldwin, etc., are authors of the hidden heritage, who balance Fone's wide selection of essential homoerotic writers. He apologizes that his space doesnt allow for including examples of the gay drama springing from Mart Crowley's seminal Boys in the Band (1968), but each historical period bears its own introduction. Fone's editorial ``we'' refers to gay men rather than lesbians, who have their own texts and anthologies. Students and nonacademics will find this commendably readable. (Reader's Subscription Book Club selection)

Choice-Rezension

Fone (City College of New York)--a distinguished pioneer in the design and instruction of undergraduate courses in gay studies--fills a special niche with this eclectic volume. Ranging from antiquity to the present, this mix of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction (including influential homophobic texts) takes an exclusively male purview and focuses on a narrative of repression and response. Fone's inconsistent excerpting makes many texts unreadable as literary entities. Despite grievous limitations, the collection is large enough to provide discoveries and pleasures for readers wishing to introduce themselves to a wide span of gay male texts. The volume's diverse and strong Hispanic selections provide a stark contrast to the overall paucity of German and Scandinavian writers. Difficult-to-find authors like Bayard Taylor and Xavier Mayne are well represented, but treatment of English Renaissance texts is lopsided. Despite his rationale in the preface for excluding plays, Fone excerpts two of Marlowe's but none of Shakespeare's, Fletcher's, or Chapman's. He includes Henry VIII's "The Law of 25" but not John Bale's contemporaneous play Three Laws, which has a major character named Sodomy. Undergraduate and general libraries--especially small ones with constrained budgets-- may wish to acquire this volume as an introductory source for general readers. D. N. Mager; Johnson C. Smith University

Library Journal-Rezension

Superbly conceived and edited, this anthology functions as a source companion to Gregory Woods's brilliant History of Gay Literature (LJ 4/1/98). Though its obvious use might be as a textbook, Fone's (CCNY) selections are thoughtfully interesting, and many are outside the gay canon. As such, even experienced readers of gay literature will discover hidden treasures here. Fone provides material from all Western literary traditions across 2000 years, and what makes his anthology even more wonderful is his including all genres of literature, not just the usual poetry and fiction, from ancient epic to modern personal political essays. Fone also provides introductory essays for each section and biographical notes for each author. This book will contribute mightily to discussions of the gay canon. Highly recommended.ÄDavid S. Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Greek Literature	p. 11
Inventing Paiderastia	p. 25
Greek Homoerotic Poetry	p. 37
Love Poems and Satire	p. 61
Inventing Sodom	p. 89
Scripture and Law from the Sodom Story	p. 95
God Made Our Natures Full of Love	p. 103
Platonic Dialogues	p. 125
Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds	p. 328
Society Oscar Wilde and the Law	p. 335
English Literature 18961969	p. 345
European Writing 18701969	p. 401
Germany 18991939	p. 440
Russian Literature 18361922	p. 457
Alexandrian Songs	p. 469
Spanish Literature	p. 475
Amor Socraticus	p. 131
English Homoerotic Literature	p. 157
Michael Drayton 15631631	p. 163
Satirizing Sodomites	p. 197
Resisting Homophobia	p. 214
Eighteenthcentury	p. 238
German Literature 18201869	p. 244
Romantic Friendship And	p. 265
Homosexuality in Nineteenth Imagining Homosexuals	p. 302
Edward Carpenter 18441929	p. 308
Teleny 1893	p. 314
John Francis Bloxam 18731928	p. 322
Latin American and Cuban Literature	p. 486
Serene Friendship Land	p. 525
Armies of Androgynes	p. 611
Out of the Shadow World	p. 669
Becoming Gay	p. 729
Celebrations	p. 743
Politics	p. 775
Jim Everhard b 1946	p. 787
Grieving	p. 795
Copyright Acknowledgments	p. 819
Copyright

Verfügbar:*

Bound With These Titles