Richard Amory (October 18, 1927, Halfway, OR – August 1, 1981, San Jose, CA), born Richard Wallace Love, was an American writer. He obtained a bachelor's degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, a M.A. in Spanish from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

, and began an uncompleted Ph.D. in Spanish at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. A high school teacher by profession, he achieved success as a novelist in the late 1960s while still a graduate student and before

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

. Amory is best known for his 1966 novel ''Song of the Loon: A Gay Pastoral in Five Books and an Interlude'' and its sequels, including ''Song of Aaron'' and ''Listen, the Loon Sings''. Variously described as "a gay American version of famous sixteenth-century Spanish

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

novels" and "a gay version of ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the ''Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinder ...

''," ''Song of the Loon'' has been called "one of the most important gay books of the 20th century." In 1994 one bibliographer estimated that one third of American gay men had read the novel. ''Song of the Loon'' was adapted as an erotic film in 1970 without Amory's involvement and much to his disgust. It also inspired a spoof, ''Fruit of the Loon'' by "Richard Armory" (in reality veteran porn writer George Davies who wrote under pen names including Clay Caldwell or Lance Lester). Amory briefly partnered with fellow authors Dirk Vanden,

Phil Andros Samuel Morris Steward (July 23, 1909 – December 31, 1993), also known as Phil Andros, Phil Sparrow, and many other pseudonyms, was a poet, novelist, and university professor who left the world of academia to become a tattoo artist and p ...

, Peter Tuesday Hughes,

Larry Townsend Larry Townsend (27 October 1930 – 29 July 2008) was the American author of dozens of books including ''Run, Little Leather Boy'' (1970) and ''The Leatherman's Handbook'' (1972), published by pioneer erotic presses such as Greenleaf Classics a ...

, and Douglas Dean in an attempt to found the first all-gay publishing company, which was to be called The Renaissance Group. The group was unable to secure funding for the attempt and several of its members ceased publishing shortly thereafter.

Bibliography

*''Song of the Loon'' (1966) *''Song of Aaron'' (1967) *''Listen, the Loon Sings'' (1968) *''A Handsome Young Man with Class'' (1969) *''Longhorn Drive'' (1969) *''Naked on Main Street'' (1969) *''Frost'' (1972) *''Willow Song'' (1974)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amory, Richard 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American male novelists American LGBT writers LGBT people from Oregon Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni San Francisco State University alumni 1927 births 1981 deaths Place of birth missing 20th-century LGBT people

Bibliography

See also

References