{"id":153,"date":"2010-07-09T13:21:31","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T18:21:31","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-03T18:05:24","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T23:05:24","slug":"encyclopedia_of_contemporary_lgbtq_liter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/encyclopedia_of_contemporary_lgbtq_liter\/","title":{"rendered":"Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States.<\/em> Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO\/Greenwood, 2009. 2 Vol. $195.00. ISBN 978-0-313-34859-4. ISBN 978-0-313-34860-0 (e-book).<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/p>\n

The Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States<\/em> is not only an essential purchase for all academic libraries and major public libraries, but also an enjoyable book. Covering a wide range of LGBTQ authors from 1980 to date, it focuses primarily on quality literary authors, but also includes some genre writers.<\/p>\n

The Encyclopedia<\/em> is the first of this scope since the two-volume Gay and Lesbian Literature<\/em> (1994, 1998) from St. James Press\/Gale. Literature<\/em> gives more detail on authors, more critical analysis, and better bibliographies, but it is outdated and its pages are dense. The new Encyclopedia<\/em> is reader-friendly with a more accessible style, as well as larger type and larger margin. The Encyclopedia<\/em> complements another essential title, edited by GLBTRT members Ellen Bosman and John Bradford, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Literature: A Genre Guide<\/a>,<\/em> which arranges and annotates GLBTQ books by subject.<\/p>\n

The Encyclopedia<\/em> includes entries for 150 gay male authors, 101 lesbians, 14 bisexuals, and only 4 transgender people. The contributors appear to be fairly balanced between males and females. Most contributors are faculty members or graduate students, although there are a few authors and only a couple of librarians. Females frequently contribute articles on male authors; males frequently on female authors.<\/p>\n

Authors not covered in Literature<\/em> (1994, 1998) that are covered in the new Encyclopedia<\/em> include Augusten Burroughs, Octavia Butler, Patricia Cornwell, Gary Indiana, Fenton Johnson, Paul Reed, Paul Russell, Alex Sanchez, David Sedaris, Tom Spanbauer, and John Morgan Wilson. There are a few odd entries and omissions: Ronald Donaghe has an entry, whereas similar writers of gay romances are omitted. Two major mystery authors, Richard Stevenson and Ellen Hart, are not included. Stevenson was one of the first and best in his genre, and Hart is one of our most popular lesbian authors. Other notable omissions are Brad Gooch, Scott Heim, and Bart Yates, all of whom are successful writers of quality fiction.<\/p>\n

With its more than 120 contributors, the quality of the entries varies. The entries for some authors include some general analysis, while others are straight-forward narratives. The trade-off of analysis in Literature<\/em> (1994, 1998) for readability in the new Encyclopedia<\/em> is a double-edged sword; the articles may be easy to read, but they also may be less interesting. The entries vary from 500 to 2,000 words and, according to the editor, the length reflects the importance of the author.<\/p>\n

In addition to the entries for hundreds of authors, the Encyclopedia<\/em> includes a rather arbitrary set of about 65 subject articles and only eight articles on individual books. The subject articles are too short to be more than cursory treatments. Given its prominence in gay male fiction, the article dealing with “coming out,” at less than three pages, is too short and discusses only one novel in depth: a young adult novel from 1969, published well before the Encyclopedia<\/em>‘s main dates of coverage (1980 to date). The article on the gay male novel mentions books published since 2000 from only three authors. Yet one of those three doesn’t rate an individual entry in the Encyclopedia. There are articles about science fiction, but none for mysteries, despite extensive publishing in the latter genre.<\/p>\n

Bibliographies in the Encyclopedia<\/em> are disappointing because they are so short and leave out major sources of information about the authors. For example, contributors cited only four of the thirty-three substantial interviews (many 20\u201340 pages long) with U.S. gay male authors that were conducted in three books: Something Inside<\/em> (1999), Gay Fiction Speaks<\/em> (2001), and Hear Us Out<\/em> (2003). These interviews are far more substantial than many of the handful of resources cited at the end of most entries. The contributors also should have cited articles from Literature<\/em> (1994, 1998).<\/p>\n

The lack of significant analysis and the paltry bibliographies are major flaws that should be corrected if there is a second edition, but they are outweighed by the strengths of the Encyclopedia.<\/em> With its broad scope and high level of readability, the Encyclopedia is an excellent choice for bibliographers and book buyers. LGBTQ readers should request the purchase of this book at their libraries.
\n
\nReviewed by,\u00a0Larry Romans<\/strong>
\nVanderbilt University Libraries<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO\/Greenwood, 2009. 2 Vol. $195.00. ISBN 978-0-313-34859-4. ISBN 978-0-313-34860-0 (e-book). The Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States is not only an essential purchase for all academic libraries and major public libraries, but also an enjoyable book. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}