''Lost Gay Novels'' is a 2003 reference guide written by Anthony Slide that provides commentary on 50 works of

gay literature Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the gay community which involves characters, plot lines, and/or themes portraying male homosexual behavior. Overview and history Because the social acceptance of homosexual ...

published between 1900 and 1950 that Slide found to be not well-known by late 20th and early 21st-century audiences.

Summary

''Lost Gay Novels'' provides plot summaries and reviews of 50 novels, organized alphabetically by the authors' last names. The book does not comprehensively cover gay literature from the time period, nor was it designed to be a recommended reading list, but rather covers books with different outlooks on homosexuality and gay issues and the context of their times. Most of the novels included are American, though a few are from Europe. The book also provides a discussion on the characters, and presents authors who are not normally associated with homosexuality.

Covered works

Impact

''Lost Gay Novels'' is notable for documenting the gay literature subculture that was active prior to the Stonewall riots. The novels discussed in the book have historically been both ignored by researchers and overshadowed by the history of

gay pulp fiction Gay pulp fiction, or gay pulps, refers to printed works, primarily fiction, that include references to male homosexuality, specifically male gay sex, and that are cheaply produced, typically in paperback books made of wood pulp paper; lesbian pulp ...

and

erotica Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use ...

. Slide mentions that in the 1940s and 1950s, gay literature was published and given publicity, likely due to gay editors leveraging their influence in the publishing world. Widespread realization that this " Homintern" was happening was partly the influence for

homosexual panic Homosexual panic is a term coined by American psychiatrist Edward J. Kempf in 1920 for a condition of "panic due to the pressure of uncontrollable perverse sexual cravings". Kempf classified this condition as an acute pernicious dissociative di ...

. This book inspired a collection that is now in the Cushing Library at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

References

External links

''Lost Gay Novels''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

''Lost Gay Novels'' cover gallery

''Lost Gay Novels'' reading list
Gay fiction 2003 non-fiction books

Summary

Covered works

Impact

See also

References

Further reading

External links