20 classic works of gay literature

Today U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker struck down Proposition 8, ruling that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry. Proposition 8 was a 2008 ballot initiative that banned gay marriage in California.

Both sides had said that, should they lose, they intended to appeal the ruling. Walker's decision is expected to be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On a day that will find many gay rights activists celebrating, we look to the books that have provided a richer understanding of the joys and challenges particular to gay life.

20 classic works of gay literature

"Giovanni’s Room" by James Baldwin -- a man discovers his sexual identity in Paris

"Nightwood" by Djuna Barnes -- early postmodern fiction of women in Paris in love

"Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" by Alison Bechdel -- a graphic novel memoir of her troubled gay father and her own coming out

"Rubyfruit Jungle" by Rita Mae Brown -- the 1973 tale of a young woman’s coming of age

"Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs -- the focus of a breakthrough obscenity trial, a landmark experimental novel

"Oscar Wilde" by Richard Elmann -- bio of the lively writer whose gay relationship got him sent to prison for “gross indecency”

"Maurice" by E.M. Forster -- a love story written when homosexuality was illegal in England; published posthumously

"The Well of Loneliness" by Radclyffe Hall -- groundbreaking lesbian novel of the 1920s

"Invisible Life" by E. Lynn Harris -- an African American law student's sexual discovery

"Howl" by Allen Ginsberg -- the poem was subject to an obscenity trial in part because of its explicit gay themes

"Our Lady of the Flowers" by Jean Genet -- published in 1944, sexual adventures in Paris' criminal underground

"American Studies" by Mark Marlis -- an aging man looks back; won the LA Times book prize for first fiction

"Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin -- in San Francisco, the stories about Michael Tolliver continued in five sequels

"Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir" by Paul Monette. A breathtaking yet matter-of-fact, day by day account of the death of his longtime partner from AIDS.

"Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx -- a story of cowboys in love, from the collection "Close Range"

"City of Night" by John Rechy -- a novel of gay street hustlers in the 1950s 

"The Complete Poems" by Sappho -- a woman's love poetry from the seventh century BC

"The Queen Is Dead" by Hubert Selby Jr. -- a story of a transvestite's death, from the collection "Last Exit to Brooklyn"

"The Master" by Colm Toibin -- an imagining of the life of Henry James

"Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" by Jeanette Winterson -- a young woman’s sexual awakening that won the Whitbread Prize for first fiction

-- Carolyn Kellogg, Nick Owchar and David L. Ulin

Photo: James Baldwin in 1979. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Kristin]

No Audre Lorde? "Zami: A New Spelling of my Name"

[D. Cloyce Smith]

I would add to this great list:

"A Single Man," Christopher Isherwood
"The City and the Pillar," Gore Vidal
"Bastard Out of Carolina," Dorothy Allison
"Grief," Andrew Holleran
"The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas," Gertrude Stein

[Dan]

Fatal emission: The City and the Pillar.

[matthew lawrence]

I also would recommend David Levithan's "Boy Meets Boy" for optimistic teens, and Michelle Tea's "Rose Of No Man's Land" for less optimistic teens.

[Nicola Griffith]

These are all great books.

But what I'm looking forward to is a body of literature that isn't based on coming-of-age or coming-out narratives. I want novels in all their glory: rich, luscious, complex, and full of joy.

That day just got a little bit closer :)

[Bri]

You must include Truman!

My personal favorite is "Other Voices, Other Rooms."
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is, of course, the go-to.

I'd also highly recommend Tennessee Williams' "Suddenly, Last Summer," and just about anything by Tennessee, really.

[Julieta Lionetti]

I would add two other works:

"Bastard Out of Carolina," Dorothy Allison

"The Man Who Fell in Love whith The Moon", Tom Spanbauer.

And a heretic proposal:

"Moby Dick", Herman Melville

[Mike D]

No Richard Rodriguez?

[Charles]

No Alan Hollinghurst?

...

Seriously?

[Adrian Marsh]

Oddly, Edmund White's "A Boy's Own Story" is missing from this list

[Adrian Marsh]

Yukio Mishima's "Forbidden Colours" might also be usefully added to this list...

[Matthew Gallaway]

Nothing against the above list, but just to add some of my favorites: from the pre-war period, I would also include 1) Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time, 2) Thomas Mann, Death in Venice, 3) Virginia Woolf, Orlando, 4) JK Huysmans, Against the Grain, 5) Henry James, The Beast in the Jungle, and from the post-war period, 1) Andrew Holleran, Dancer from the Dance, 2) Peter Nadas, A Book of Memories, 3) Michael Cunningham, The Hours, 4) Samuel Delaney, The Motion of Light in Water, 5) Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming Pool Library, 6) Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red, 7) Dale Peck, Martin and John, 8) Edmund White, A Boy's Own Story.

[JMS]

Seriously, I'm with Charles, where is the Alan Hollinghurst? Swimming Pool Library, Line of Beauty ... one or the other.

[Migs]

A few suggested additions:

1. "A Single Man", Christopher Isherwood
2. "The Immoralist", André Gide
3. "The Line of Beauty", Alan Hollinghurst
4. "Like People in History", Felice Picano (if only because its scope was pretty epic)

[Leslie]

Yes, wow, of all people Booker Prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst should be on this list. Another of my favorites that no one's mentioned yet is Jamie O'Neill's novel, "At Swim, Two Boys".

[Lance Reynald]

missing (most shockingly)

Isherwood, period.
Edmund White, A BOY'S OWN STORY
Michael Cunningham, THE HOURS
Alexander Chee, EDINBURGH
Patricia Nell Warren, THE FRONT RUNNER

[Juan]

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks "The City and the Pillar" is a glaring omission. I'd read a lot of awful gay books and short stories as a teenager. This was the first gay novel I read that was truly literature.

[Heisenberg]

Christopher Isherwood and Audre Lorde, certainly, but NOT "Moby Dick." Even if there are gay themes in Melville, I do not think it is to be considered "gay literature," and certainly not at the expense of one of these other fine works. In other words, if one is going to start listing works that 'hint' at gay themes or activity, one better have a very, very large pad of paper.

[Joseph Taylor]

I would include:
"A Boy's Own Story" by Edmund White -- a poignant novel long considered an American classic
"Becoming a Man," by Paul Monette -- a National Book Award-winning autobiography
"Boy Meets Boy" by David Levithan -- a groundbreaking teen novel set in an idealized high school

Also, just about anything by David Leavitt, including his collected stories, deserve attention.

[baby jane hudson in hollywood]

THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY BY OSCAR WILDE
MYRA BRECKINRIDGE BY GORE VIDAL

[Randy Skretvedt]

Laura Z. Hobson's "Consenting Adult" is an absorbing story of one family's growth along with that of the gay movement from 1960 to 1973. For teens, Alex Sanchez has written a number of excellent novels, the best still being "Rainbow Boys," although the sequels "Rainbow High" and "Rainbow Road" are nearly as good, as is "The God Box," which examines a teenager's conflict between homosexuality and spirituality.

[JFH]

"A Boys Own Story" and "The Beautiful Room is Empty' by Edmund White. Books that helped me come out and I read millions of times.

[Calvin]

Writer omitted the novels of Mary Renault, most or all of which are gay-themed.

[Thomas J. Coleman]

Two from South of the Border:

"Before Night Falls" Reinaldo Arenas

"The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta" Mario Vargas Llosa
(this one was a surprise for me--didn't know the great Llosa had it in him)

[Samantha]

Great list, great discussion. Another must: the Los Angeles novelist and poet Donald Rawley, who died too young of that terrible plague that took so many before effective medicines were available. His death came just as The New Yorker and others were recognizing his talents. Titles to know: The Nightbird Cantata and Slow Dance on the Fault Line.

[tanya]

I'm not so obtuse as to miss the point-so to speak-of recognizing gay literature. However, I do have one question. Doesn't recognizing literature as being gay continue a subtle "otherness"? As a hetero female, I don't chose my erotic reading based on my sexuality but rather a well-crafted story. Shouldn't love, lust, pain, hate and desire drive our passions and transcend our individual sexuality?
I am willing to admit I could have this wrong. But I guess perhaps I hope for a time when skin color, gender and orientation are not worth mentioning.

[Zane]

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
Boys like Her by Taste This
Exile and Pride by Eli Claire

also anything by Dorothy Allison

[Mike Ehling]

A couple very serious omissions:

Isabel Miller's "Patience and Sarah," a ground-breaker as a lesbian novel with a happy ending
Nancy Garden's "Annie on My Mind," a ground-breaker as a teen lesbian novel with a happy ending

Also, let's remember Elizabeth Gaskell in this the bicentennial year of her (1810) birth. Her most popular novel, "Cranford," contains a sympathetic portrayal of a male cross-dresser while her short story "The Grey Woman" portrays a transgender F-to-M marriage.

[Janine Manatis]

One of the great gifts of my life was having James Baldwin as my mentor. We met at the Actors' Studio. I was a young actress/director/writer who'd just been invited by Edward Albee to take his place as the moderator of the Playwrights' Unit there.Jimmy was an "observor",invited by Elia Kazan. He became my friend and a fan, and he decided to adapt a portion of "Giovanni's Room" for me to perform.It was a wonderful experience for everyone involved as well as the entire Studio.(I'm currently writing about it in detail in a collection of memories,including many others he and I shared.) His genius is too unrecognized! Thank you for remembering him in this context. Never forgetting his equally important forecasting of current social/political happenings.(I'm so sorry he's not here to experience Obama as president. I can see that wild grin of his.)Thank you for this opportunity to share, even briefly, some little known info about "Giovanni's Room".

[Michael Logan]

Leaving Isherwood off the list is sort of astonishing. Not only was he one of the finest prose writers of the 20th century, he was a major figure on the LA cultural scene for decades.

[AeeTeeZee]

Sorry, but the list isn't complete without Doris Grumbach's historical novels: The Spoil of the Flowers and The Ladies. Especially The Ladies.

[Tony S.]

"A Single Man" by Christopher Isherwood

[amyleetee]

City of Night by John Richy (1963)

[Leslie]

For the sake of discussion, how about some James Purdy?
"63: Dream Palace" (short stories) from 1956 , "Malcolm" from 1959, and "Narrow Rooms" from 1978, to name a few...

[Cecilia Tan]

I was a bit surprised not to see Edmund White's "A Boy's Own Story" and yet I can't fault any of the inclusions. Which is a good thing. Goes to show how much there is out there that shaped literature.

[Jesse Baker]

I would've liked to see Hallucinating Foucault by Patricia Duncker on here. Even as a homosexual woman, I could enjoy the love scene with two men!