Pulp Friction
Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A collection of gay erotic writings tracing the development of a gay identity from the late 19th century to just before the Stonewall Inn riots
Long before the rise of the modern gay movement, an unnoticed literary revolution was occurring, mostly between the covers of the cheaply produced pulp paperbacks of the post-World War II era. Cultural critic Michael Bronski collects a sampling of these now little-known gay erotic writings—some by writers long forgotten, some never known and a few now famous. Through them, Bronski challenges many long-held views of American postwar fiction and the rise of gay literature, as well as of the culture at large.
CONTENTS
Part One
Mainstream Fiction: Not Particularly Hiding in the Shadows
Harrison Dowd, The Night Air, Dial Press, 1950
Lonnie Coleman, Sam, David McKay, 1959
Part Two
The New Gay Novel: Happier Homos and Happier Endings
James Barr, "Spurr Piece" from Derricks, Greenberg, 1951
Jay Little, Maybe—Tomorrow, Pageant Press, 1952
Part Three
Truly Pulp: "Gay" Life in the Shadows
Michael De Forrest, The Gay Year, Woodford Press, 1949
Vin Packer (Marijane Meaker), Whisper His Sin, Fawcett Gold Medal Books, 1954
Ben Travis, The Strange Ones, Beacon Book, 1959
James Colton (Joseph Hansen), Lost on Twilight Road, National Library, 1964
Jeff X, The Memoirs of Jeff X, Zil, 1968
Part Four
Out of the Twilight World: The Sexual Revolution Goes Lavender
The Boys of Muscle Beach, Guild Press, 1969 (reprint from the 1950s)
Richard Amory, Song of the Loon, Greenleaf Classics, 1966
Carl Corley, My Purple Winter, PEC French Line, 1966
Jack Love, Gay Whore, PEC French Line, 1967
Chris Davidson, A Different Drum, Ember Library/Greenleaf Classics, 1967
Part Five
The World Split Open: Life and Literature After Stonewall
Marcus Miller, Gay Revolution, Pleasure Reader, 1969
Bruce Benderson, Kyle, Crusier Classics, 1975
Victor Jay, The Gay Haunt, Traveller's Companion, 1970
John Ironstone, Gay Rights, El Dorado Editions, 1978
Appendix: Gay Novels, 1940-1969
Bibliography
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Noting research that included reading "just over 225 novels," cultural critic Bronski (The Pleasure Principle) delightfully chronicles gay pulp novels from their emergence in the late 1940s through the post-Stonewall era in this expansive, exhaustively researched amalgam of fiction and gay history. In the earliest novels, homosexual characters were often drawn as angst-ridden men living hideaway lives. These mild tales gave way to the more outrageous and sexually intrepid plot lines of the 1950s and early '60s as gay male pulps gained momentum typical is a locker-room fantasy scene from Jay Little's Maybe Tomorrow. As the 1960s progressed, fiction grew bolder in form and content. Richard Amory's lush The Song of the Loon was a landmark title, its literary aspirations plain, while other titles of the era racy fictions like Jack Love's Gay Whore, a melodrama set on Fire Island, and the pseudonymous Memoirs of Jeff X were willing to settle for being "extraordinarily profitable." The gay revolution unleashed by the Stonewall riots is boldly evident in excerpts by Marcus Miller (from Gay Revolution), and a selection from Bruce Benderson's 1975 erotic potboiler, Kyle. Prefacing each section with thoughtful background on the period, Bronski then steps back to let the generous novel excerpts speak for themselves. Bronski has searched thoroughly and thought-provokingly, and this book should pop up on required reading lists for gay studies courses (the extensive appendix is invaluable). This is obviously a labor of love, and an absolute must for gay historians and those interested in stimulating gay fiction from years gone by.