A QUEER LOOK AT by john solleder LITERATURE
Books and Literature and Homos, Oh My! For many of us, the word “book” brings to mind best
sellers like The Da Vinci Code, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter, or *shudder* evenTwilight. “Literature” on the other hand often invokes the works
of DWMs (Dead White Males) such as Shakespeare, Twain, Faulkner, Hemmingway, Oscar Wilde and other sleep-inducing authors we were forced to read in school. Queer Lit on the other hand, is too often associated
with a genre that can be best described as smutty soft/ hard-core porn. At best, these books amount to the trashy romance novels of our community, but the literary history of our community is SO much greater than that and it is both reflective of the changes in society through the years, as well as being a cause of that same change.
It’s All Greek To Me Back before the Greeks were responsible for Animal
House and for destroying the European Union with their ouzo-induced spending sprees, they were best known for their toga parties and their open-minded views on sexuality. The Greeks put the lesbo in lesbian, their gods had sex with anything that moved, and Hermaphrodites became the first gender-bender long before anyone even heard of RuPaul. Sappho and Plato are among some of the “family” authors of the day.
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Rears Later, the Romans came along and took the Greek
culture and pretended it was theirs all along. A new coat of paint, some renamings, and voila! Jupiter is having gay sex with some kid named Catamitus. Like their Greek predecessors, there were an abundance of Roman authors who were a little “light in the sandals.” Literary greats such as Horace, Petronius, Catullus and Virgil (author ofAeneid), were among some of the queer writers of their time.
The Father, The Son and The Holy Witch Hunts, Batman!
...And then the Christians came along and screwed
everything up for years. Who would have thought that a series of men in pointy hats and a dress could mess things up so bad for us? Christianity put homosexuality back in the closet, or at least back into the confessional booth. Parochial attitudes lasted through the Victorian era, and we’re still dealing with the last vestiges of these “values” today. Oscar Wilde is one of the more notable literary figures
to be persecuted because of his sexuality at the end of this period. The author of The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, had a very public feud with his lover’s father, which eventually resulted in civil
and criminal trials. Wilde was accused of sodomy, gross indecency and buggery. He was eventually sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison and died a few years after, a broken man.
Power of the (Printing) Press/Pulp Fiction The 20th Century was a turning point for queer
literature. New technology, in the form of small press publications opened new doors for queer lit. “Beefcake” magazines began to appear. Low-cost pulp fiction pa- perbacks, so called because of the low quality wood pulp paper, began to be produced by both small press and mainstream publishers. Initially, they were often fairly tame novels with gay and lesbian main characters and the main themes often dealt with issues of coming out. Later, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, as “camp” went mainstream, much of the gay pulp fiction took on a distinctive camp flavor and it became more sexual as obscenity and cen- sorship laws were relaxed. The Man From C.A.M.P. series is a classic example of this
genre. A campy gay take on the then-popular “secret agent man” genre, The Man From C.A.M.P. featured main character Jackie Holmes, a gay secret agent who used his sexuality as one of his main weapons. This James Bond- ish main character also borrowed heavily fromThe Man From U.N.C.L.E. series with its use of acronyms. Jackie Holmes even worked against a counter organization known as B.U.T.C.H.
I Know It When I See It More recently, though there is still plenty of “C.A.M.P.-
like” queer literature. A good deal of gay prose has gone mainstream and gained an acceptance worldwide, as queer sexualities became almost a non-issue. These days it is harder to definitively label a work as queer lit. Is it still queer lit if the author is straight but writing about gay topics? Is it queer lit if the author is gay but he is writing about non-gay subject matter? If it becomes a bestseller and most of the readers are straight men and women, can it still be considered queer literature? This blurring of the lines is surely a good thing and a
sign of the greater acceptance that society has towards homosexuality these days. Straight author Michael Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize, and popular success, with his 2000 novel The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, in which issues of sexuality were a driving part of the story. Meanwhile, gay authors like David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs, are regular fixtures on the bestseller lists with books that touch upon, but don’t dwell on the topic of sexuality. It appears that queer lit has come full circle and
is now no different—or any better-defined—than any other genre, such as science fiction, mystery, or romance novels.
THE GAY MAFIA’S Book Club Recommendations
Geography Club by Brent Hartinger A story about high school kids who get together in anonymity by starting a “geography club” as a cover story.
David Sedaris (Just read everything he’s ever written) Warning: Do not read anywhere you don’t want to draw attention to yourself by laughing out loud like a crazy person.
How I Paid For College by Marc Acito A hilarious recounting of one gay teenager’s quest to pay for his education.
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan An alternate reality high school where queer kids are in the majority.
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs The story of a boy whose mother gave him away to be raised by a psychologist and the doctor’s crazy family.
My Side of the Story by Will Davis British teen “Jaz” deals with coming out, family drama, and having a good time by sneaking into gay bars and clubs... where he bumps into one of his teachers.
OCTOBER 2011 | RAGE monthly 13
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