The GLBTRT has been reviewing books and movies in its newsletter since the early 1990s. Trace the evolution of queer publishing through these historic reviews. This review was originally published in Vol. 4, No. 2, Summer 1992.
Most of the material in this wide-ranging “celebratory anthology” was originally published in one of the first, one of the longest-lasting (1970-1982), one of the most controversial, and one of the most respected publications for gay men produced by the original shock wave of the Stonewall Rebellion. Additional material for the anthology was drawn from out-of-print books published by Gay Sunshine Press, established by “Gay Sunshine Journal” editor Leyland in 1975. It is astonishing how much work of historical or still-timely importance was originally published in Gay Sunshine. You’ll find here (to choose only a few things at random) the famous article on the “gay lineage” connecting Walt Whitman’s lovemaking to Allen Ginsberg’s; Huey Newton’sposition paper on why gay men and lesbians should be considered allies to the Black Liberation Movement; Ralph Schaffer’s moving essay on ageism among gay men; John Rechy’s prophetic 1978 piece on the New Censorship.
There are pieces by and/or about W.H. Auden, Malcolm Boyd, Jean Genet, Allen Ginsberg, Yukio Mishima, Ned Rorem, Tennesee Williams. There are alltoo-brief excerpts from wonderful (and incidentally, previously anthologized) interviews with Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, Lou Harrison, Christopher Isherwood, Roger Peyrefitte, and Gore Vidal (alas, only the interview with Isherwood is published here in its entirety). There is poetry by Verlaine, Rimbaud, Genet, Cernuda, Ginsberg, and Leyland favorites Jim Everhard and Edward A. Lacey. There are well-written and groundbreaking scholarly essays by Eric Garber, Charles Shively, Allen Young, and Ian Young.
The amount of material by or about gay authors outside the English speaking world is remarkable: essays, short stories, and poems translated from the French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, and Greek. Leyland briefly introduces each piece with a helpful and remarkably complete bio-bibliographical note. These gems and much of the other historical, biographical, political, critical, creative, and erotic materials included more than compensate the reader for the inclusion of some of the less important items (or items available elsewhere): too many samples of Boyd McDonalds’s Straight to Hell sex fantasies; an early version of Karlinsky’s work on Russian pre-Revolutionary gay literati that appears in a more polished form in another recently published anthology; and, some mediocre poetry.
The most serious flaw of this anthology is its antipathy not only to the contributions of lesbians to the “Gay Cultural Renaissance” of the 1970’s, but a near total obliviousness to their existence. The brief profile of a famous lesbian writer in the essay written by Simon Karlinsky is the only rare and refreshing exception to the otherwise males-only material. Not a single word of this 700 page anthology that includes over one hundred contributors is written by a lesbian. Despite what this reveals about the politics of the gay male literary “community” served by a largely male controlled press of the 1970’s, this is an important collection and every public and academic library, and every gay operated library should buy the hardcover edition. Lesbian operated libraries may find it difficult to spring for even the paperback.
Reviewed by Cal Gough
Altanta-Fulton Public Library
Atlanta, GA
