Gay Fictions: Wilde to Stonewall : Studies in a Male Homosexual Literary Tradition

Gay Fictions: Wilde to Stonewall both illuminates significant works of literature and helps chart an evolving tradition of gay male literature. Focusing on Anglo-American fiction written in the advent and aftermath of the Wilde scandal of 1895 and in the period following World War II but before the Stonewall Inn riots of 1969, Gay Fictions aims not so much at establishing a canon of modern gay literature as exploring important representative texts that simultaneously reflect and reflect on the status of gay people during these crucial decades. Among the texts examined are works by Oscar Wilde, Willa Cather, E. M. Forester, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Mary Renault, James Baldwin, and Christopher Isherwood. The novels and stories explored in Gay Fictions are products of particular and immediate social contexts, but they also transcend their historical moments and continue to speak to the question of what it means to be homosexual, a question that is important not only to gay people but also to all who value justice and diversity. By focusing on these works, this book shows the changing face of this experience and itself makes a vital contribution to the literature of gay liberation.