The Violet Quill
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The Violet Quill
The Violet Quill (or the Violet Quill Club) was a group of seven gay male writers that met in 1980 and 1981 in New York City to read from their writings to each other and to critique them. This group and the writers epitomize the years between the Stonewall Riots and the beginning of the AIDS pandemic. Importance What made this group important was that several of its members became some of the most important Post-Stonewall gay writers in America, and the group includes writers and works that have been linked to gay writing as a literary movement. Edmund White and Andrew Holleran in particular stand out. Members The seven writers are: * Christopher Cox (1949—1990) * Robert Ferro (1941—1988) * Michael Grumley (1942—1988) * Andrew Holleran (b. 1944) * Felice Picano (b. 1944) Published:May 9, 1994. Short piece on Felice Picano reading and reference to The Violet Quill. * Edmund White (b. 1940) * George Whitmore (1946—1989) Between 1988 and 1990, AIDS claimed the lives of ...
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New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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Gay Male Literature
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 19th century, that meaning became increasingly common by the mid-20th century. In modern English, ''gay'' has come to be used as an adjective, and as a noun, referring to the community, practices and cultures associated with homosexuality. In the 1960s, ''gay'' became the word favored by homosexual men to describe their sexual orientation. By the end of the 20th century, the word ''gay'' was recommended by major LGBT groups and style guides to describe people attracted to members of the same sex, (Reprinted fro American Psychologist, Vol 46(9), Sep 1991, 973-974) although it is more commonly used to refer specifically to men. At about the same time, a new, pejorative use became prevalent in some parts of the world. Among younger speakers, ...
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A Boy's Own Story
''A Boy's Own Story'' is a 1982 semi-autobiographical novel by Edmund White. Overview ''A Boy’s Own Story'' is the first of a trilogy of novels, describing a boy's coming of age and documenting a young man's experience of homosexuality in the 1950s in Cincinnati, Chicago and Michigan. The trilogy continued with '' The Beautiful Room Is Empty'' (1988) and ''The Farewell Symphony'' (1997), which brought the setting up to the 1990s. Although all three share a number of themes and are frequently considered at least partly autobiographical, they do not tell a linear story in the manner of some trilogies, and can be read independently of one another. Plot The story starts when the narrator, aged 15, experiences the physical side of young love with his twelve-year-old friend Kevin O'Brien. Although he is the younger boy, Kevin takes the lead in the sexual activity. Kevin's remoteness keeps the relationship one-sided; he forgets all about it once each session is over, whereas the na ...
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An Asian Minor
''An Asian Minor'' is a novel by Felice Picano in which he re-invents the myth of Ganymede. In Greek Mythology, Ganymede was the cup-bearer of Olympus and the beloved of Zeus, chief of the gods. In the novel, told in the first person from the viewpoint of Ganymede himself, he reveals that before Zeus became his lover Ganymede was erotically and amorously pursued by several other major deities. Ares, god of war, was too rough and violent. Hermes, god of thieves and tricksters, was too dishonest and deceitful. Only Zeus was able to satisfy Ganymede fully. First published by Seahorse Press in 1981, Lethe Press has re-released the novel in 2017: as a deluxe edition with full-color homoerotic art; a paperback edition; audiobook; and e-book. See also * ''Till We Have Faces'' * ''The Persian Boy'' Sources ''An Asian Minor'' by Felice Picano Felice Picano (born February 22, 1944) is an American writer, publisher, and critic who has encouraged the development of gay literature in the ...
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Dancer From The Dance
''Dancer from the Dance'' is a 1978 gay novel by Andrew Holleran (pen name of Eric Garber) about gay men in New York City and Fire Island. Plot summary The novel revolves around two main characters: Anthony Malone, a young man from the Midwest who leaves behind his straight life as a lawyer to immerse himself in the gay life of 1970s New York, and Andrew Sutherland, variously described as a speed addict, a socialite, and a drag queen. Their social life includes long nights of drinking, dancing, and drug use in New York's gay bars. Though they enjoy many physical pleasures, their lives lack any spiritual depth. The "dance" of the novel's title becomes a metaphor for their lives. Malone is described as preternaturally beautiful; much of the plot concerns Sutherland's efforts to leverage Malone's beauty by " marrying" him to a young millionaire. The book switches perspective often. Sometimes characters are tracked closely using more traditional omniscient narrative techniques. ...
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George Whitmore (writer)
George Whitmore (September 27, 1945 – April 19, 1989) was an American playwright, novelist, and poet. He also wrote non-fiction accounts about homosexuality and AIDS. Early life George Whitmore was born on September 27, 1945, in Denver, Colorado. His parents were Lowell Whitmore and Irene Davis. Whitmore graduated from MacMurray College in 1967, where he "received a BA degree in English and Theatre", and he attended graduate school at Bennington College for one year. Career A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, Whitmore chose to work at Planned Parenthood in New York City (1968–1972) in lieu of military service. He then worked at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council of New York City from 1972 to 1981. Whitmore emerged as an author in the context of the early gay literary movement that flourished in New York during the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote two books of poetry, three plays, and three novels. He also wrote for ''The New York Times Magazine'', the ''Ne ...
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Edmund White
Edmund Valentine White III (born 1940) is an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer and an essayist on literary and social topics. Since 1999 he has been a professor at Princeton University. France made him (and later ) de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1993. White's books include ''The Joy of Gay Sex'', written with Charles Silverstein (1977); his trilogy of semi-autobiographic novels, '' A Boy's Own Story'' (1982), '' The Beautiful Room Is Empty'' (1988) and ''The Farewell Symphony'' (1997); and his biography of Jean Genet. Much of his writing is on the theme of same-sex love. White has also written biographies of three French writers: Jean Genet, Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud. He is the namesake of the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, awarded annually by Publishing Triangle. Early life and education Edmund Valentine White mostly grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, as a boy. Afterward, he stud ...
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Felice Picano
Felice Picano (born February 22, 1944) is an American writer, publisher, and critic who has encouraged the development of gay literature in the United States. His work is documented in many sources. Life Felice Picano graduated ''cum laude'' from Queens College in 1964 with English department honors. He founded SeaHorse Press in 1977, and The Gay Presses of New York in 1981 with Terry Helbing and Larry Mitchell; he was Editor-in-Chief there. He was an editor and writer for '' The Advocate'', ''Blueboy'', '' Mandate'', '' Gaysweek'', and ''Christopher Street''. He was the Books Editor of ''The New York Native''. At ''The Los Angeles Examiner'', ''San Francisco Examiner'', ''New York Native'', ''Harvard Lesbian & Gay Review'' and the ''Lambda Book Report'', he was a culture reviewer. He has also written for ''OUT'' and ''OUT Traveller''. With Andrew Holleran, Robert Ferro, Michael Grumley, Edmund White, Christopher Cox, and George Whitmore, he founded the literary group The Vi ...
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Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Patrons of the Stonewall, other Village lesbian and gay bars, and neighborhood street people fought back when the police became violent. The riots are widely considered the watershed event that transformed the gay liberation movement and the twentieth-century fight for LGBT rights in the United States.; As was common for American gay bars at the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the Mafia. While police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. Tensions between New York City Police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into ...
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Andrew Holleran
Andrew Holleran is the pseudonym of Eric Garber (born 1944), an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer, born on the island of Aruba. Most of his adult life has been spent in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a small town in Florida. He was a member of The Violet Quill, a gay writer's group that met in 1980 and 1981 and also included Robert Ferro, Edmund White and Felice Picano. Following the success of his first novel Dancer from the Dance in 1978, he became a prominent author of post- Stonewall gay literature. Historically protective of his privacy, the author continues to use the pseudonym Andrew Holleran as a writer and public speaker. Early life, education, military service Holleran was born and spent much of his childhood on the island of Aruba in the Dutch Caribbean, where his father worked for an oil company. He was raised a Catholic. When his father retired, the family moved to a Florida. After high school, he attended Harvard College, where he studied l ...
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Michael Grumley
Michael Grumley (July 6, 1942 – April 28, 1988) was an American writer and artist. Grumley was born in Bettendorf, Iowa. He attended the University of Denver, the City College of New York and the Iowa Writers' Workshop Grumley received a B.S. Degree with a major in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on June 7, 1964. He was a founding member of The Violet Quill. His partner, another founding member of the Quill, was Robert Ferro. He wrote a regularly appearing column ''Uptown'' for the New York Native. Grumley and Ferro are buried together under the Ferro-Grumley memorial in Rockland Cemetery, Sparkill, New York. Following their deaths, the Ferro-Grumley Foundation, which manages their estate, created and endowed the annual Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT fiction in conjunction with Publishing Triangle. Cryptozoology Grumley was interested in cryptozoology, he was the author of a book on Bigfoot, titled ''There are Giants in the Earth'' the book was first publis ...
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