A Short History of Lesbian Literature
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- Опубликовано: 31 янв 2023
- Join me for a discussion of important works of lesbian fiction written in English during the twentieth century. Celebrate Pride Month all year round.
Thanks to @saintdonoghue for his "Starter Kit for the Gays" • A Starter Kit for the ...
LGBTQ
AUTHORS AND BOOKS MENTIONED:
(NOTE: just because I mention authors here does not mean they identify as lesbian, or that I identify them that way)
Sappho
The Bostonians by Henry James
Vernon Lee
Amy Levy
Kate Chopin
Emily Dickinson
Charlotte Bronte
Regiment of Women by Clemence Dane (Winifrid Ashton)
Dusty Answer by Rosamunde Lehmann
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
Passing by Nella Larsen
Virginia Woolf
Vita Sackville-West
The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
Carson McCullers
Olivia by Dorothy Strachey
Diana: A Strange Autobiography by Diana Frederics (Frances Rummell)
Odd Girl Out and other books in the Beebo Brinker Chronicles by Ann Bannon
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing by May Sarton
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Loving Her by Anne Allen Shockley
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Gertrude Stein
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Thank you so much! It’s so hard to find good information on lesbian literature, as often queer literature is dominated by gay men. It is important to know our history!
Thank you for your comment. And there are so many books I didn’t talk about, too-and I suspect there are so many I don’t even know about!
Ahh! I really enjoyed this video, Hannah! And, I love your Gertrude! 😃
Thank you so much!
Hannah, this overview is fabulous! A trip down memory lane for me, because I’ve read more than a dozen of the books you mentioned. Thank you.
Thank you for this really lovely comment. As I was talking about Annie On My Mind, I teared up, remembering how important it was in my own life back in the day!
This is amazing. You are such a blessing to booktube.
What a really lovely and generous comment, Mitchell!
AWWWW i always get a little misty eyed whenever Annie On My Mind is discussed, i included that title in my last bookish video too cuz it's just so sweet and hopeful and now the kids these days have so much more access to young adult books with queer representation and just AWWWWWWWW 😭💙😭💙😭💙 my heart!!!
I am so pleased to see all the love for Annie On My Mind in these comments (which I am replying to so terribly belatedly)! I'll have to go check out your video. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention!
This was great. Finding lesbian themed books became much easier in 70s and 80s when women’s bookstores flourished. (I miss them.) I’m oddly fond of Jeannette Howard Foster, a bibliographer who published Sex Variant Women in Literature in 1956. Foster’s terminology and approach are outdated now but once upon a time her booklists were used by booksellers (and cagey readers) to find lesbian books. Her bibliography is available on Internet Archive and the booklists are in the last 50 pages or so. -- Heather
Oh fantastic! I’m thrilled to hear about JHF. Thank you. I too really miss women’s bookstores-for the community of feminists as well as for the selection of books.
@@HannahsBooks There’s a bio of JHF out there by Joanne Passet that’s readable and well documented. She was a remarkable woman but not much remembered.
What an informative video! I recently read passing and hadn't even considered reading it from that angle.
Thank you!
really informative video, thank you so much for this
Thank you so much for dropping by!
Great topic and a pioneer in 20th century lesbian literature was the writer and editor Barbara Grier. A recent biography came out about her which was quite good. Grier was an editor at the Ladder that published in the 1950's and 1960's and Barbara wrote many of their book reviews. She was also the cofounder of Naiad Press. Her passion for lesbian literature and getting it out there to the public was inspiring and I do recommend her biography.
Thank you, Kathy! I don't know Grier's work but will absolutely look her (and the biography) up. Both the Ladder AND Naiad?!
I love Steve's starter kits :). Great video, and nice to see your hair! Lovely! :) I have not read many of the books /authors you mentioned. May Sarton, however, is affectionately known in my household as my favorite lesbian :). I adore her journals but have not read many of her novels . Oranges are not The Only Fruit was one of my favorite reads in 2022.
p.s. love the "gertrude stein" lol
Yes-May Sarton’s work-especially her journals-are some of my very favorites. I loved them when I was young, and I identify with them more now. So glad to hear you loved the Winterson. I think The Passion is my very favorite of hers.
I enjoyed reading Fried Green Tomatoes, Oranges aren’t the Only Fruit and Desert Hearts. There was something about Ruby Fruit Jungle that just didn’t sit well with me. It’s hard to point my finger on but it’s one of those books that I really didn’t care if I finished it or not. Thank you for the recommendations and the “ Stein” was priceless.
Yep. Rubyfruit was not my cup of tea, either! Did I mention in the video that my spouse David found the Gertrude Stein in a local Little Free Library?
I really loved this video and very glad you made it. You’ve given me a lot to chew on.
Thanks, Shelly! It was so much fun to think back over the changes that happened during the 20th century in queer lit and try to piece together a big picture. I'd love to hear how other people do it.
Fascinating. Thanks for putting this together, Hannah!
Thank you. It was really exciting to think back through some of the important queer books of the 20th century and try to make sense of the chronology.
Well, this was fabulous! I did read "Rubyfruit Jungle" but even longer ago than you did. I didn't like it and never had any desire to return to it. One of my favorite fun facts is that noirish, hardboiled writer Lawrence Block, whose Matthew Scudder detective series I really like, wrote lesbian pulp under the name Jill Emerson. The novels don't end well, but Block isn't dismissive of the emotions of the women he writes about. The Feminist Press has also published some lesbian pulp novels in their Femmes Fatales series: "The Girls in 3-B" by Valerie Taylor and "Women's Barracks: The 1950 Story about Life and Love in the Free French Army" by Tereska Torres. If there's such a thing as a pulp memoir, this is it.
I must go look up Jill Emerson! Sounds fascinating. Women's Barracks is now on my list--thank you--and I really should have thought to include Valerie Taylor. I am responding to these comments very belatedly, but it has been an absolute joy to get new recommendations from you and other commenters!
Such an interesting video, Hannah. Thank you!
Thank you so much! Lovely to see you here.
Excellent introduction and hopefully a great kickoff to further exploration of the topic by many others! One key individual I would add and highlight is Marijane Meaker, who just passed away in December at the age of 95 and was foundational in both Lesbian Pulp Novels and young people’s literature, many times under lots of other pen names.
Writing as Vin Packer she is usually credited as a co-creator of the Lesbian Pulp Fiction genre and famously wrote Evil Friendship based on the real life New Zealand teen lesbian Parker-Hulme murderers case, that would later be portrayed in the movie Heavenly Creatures. She was also among the many, many girlfriends of Patricia Highsmith and appears extensively in last year’s Highsmith documentary.
Behind the scenes, one of the important figures in publishing was Ursula Nordstrom, who was head of Harper Brothers juvenile publishing for most of the decades of the mid 20th century and discovered and nurtured innumerable Lesbian and Gay authors for young people, most notably Margaret Wise Brown, Louise Fitzhugh and Maurice Sendak. The one book she wrote herself, The Secret Language, set in a girl’s boarding and Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy were early key works with not so veiled young lesbian characters.
Thanks especially for making this and launching it now, and not just waiting for June!
Ooh, I should have included Meaker for sure! Didn't she write a memoir about her time with Highsmith? I did not know about Ursula Nordstrom, though. How cool! Last year or the year before, there was a biography of Louise Fitzhugh (still sitting unread on my shelf), and at least an article about Margaret Wise Brown, that mentioned their sexualities. I must go investigate.... Thanks!
@@HannahsBooks The phenomenal children’s literature historian Leonard S. Marcus wrote a biography, Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened By the Moon, coming up on 25 years ago soon, that set a high bar in biography about children’s writers, especially covering intimate details of her life including her sexuality.
While researching her life he became deeply involved with an archive of letters at Harper Brothers of Ursula Nordstrom covering forty plus years of correspondences between her and some of the greatest children’s authors and illustrators and recognized what a gold mine of history and information it was. He chose, complied and edited Dear Ursula, an extensive collection of them, and got Sendak to do a portrait of her for the cover. It is an unprecedented peak behind the curtain into the mechanizations of children’s publishing in the 20th century.
It is especially important in exposing Anne Carrol Moore the dangerously dictatorial head children’s librarian at New York Public library who was a rival and archenemy and terrible person. She would never allow books like Goodnight Moon into the NYPL collection, was horrified by Stuart Little and tried to have it pulped and never released despite being a champion for White to write for children and was the deciding factor behind the scenes of what won the Newbery awards for long stretches of time. An evil, terrible person who controlled children’s librarianship nationally for decades.
The Fitzhugh biography was about the third book I read after Red Comet and is wonderful. Her family for so long had controlled what could be written about her and excised her lesbianism. We had to wait a long time, but this was worth the wait. Meaker did write a memoir too, that I want to read, but this is my year of discovering Highsmith’s work which I’ve never read, so I want to start there first.
@@bookofdust What a wild story. I must look up that book! Incidentally, my son loved Stuart Little when he was young-and named his favorite drink-white grape juice mixed with seltzer-a Margalo in honor of the book. One day he was just sure that was the name of the drink-no planning necessary. We still drink Margalos around here.
@@bookofdust And of course, now I am wondering what book you read between Red Comet and the Fitzhugh biography…?
@@HannahsBooks Ha Ha! Red Comet was the first book, but took 3 - 2 week library checkouts and wait time to get it again in between, so I was reading other things simultaneously. One was ironically the worst book of the year, a novel about a pregnant woman who gives birth and is haunted by the ghosts of Margaret Wise Brown and her lesbian lover Michael Strange called The Woman Upstairs, so much potential, but ultimately dreck. I would have thrown it across the room multiple times if I wasn’t reading it digitally. Today I would have DNF it. I was also reading Last Call about the NYC serial killer of Gay men in the 1990s, that was very well done in its focus on the victims rather then the killer. I think nonfiction is an easier out of a reading slump, for me at least.
Thank you so much for this wonderful overview of lesbian literature Hannah!
Thank you so much, Cheryl. Thinking through the list really made me want to reread some of my old favorites!
Loved this! Thank you!
Thank you so much!
Gracias, Hannah. I also tried to read Rubyfruit Jungle back in the day. I have wanted to try it again in THIS century. 🤣I'm saving this video.
My guess is that Rubyfruit Jungle has probably aged REALLY poorly, but I'm defintitely intrigued by the idea of at least poking through it again!
I haven't read any of these books. Thank you so much for laying out this history. The YA book you mentioned towards the end as being gentle might be a good place to start. I could use a gentle story.
Oh yes! Annie is a sweet story--not fantastic literature exactly, but a pretty important book in the development of queer and feminist fiction.
What a tremendous overview. You reminded me of some authors I have read and others I really should. Rubyfruit Jungle was already on the list this year but now I think Olivia should a priority too.
Olivia is a quick read--and I would recommend Rubyfruit only if you're interested in it as a piece of the historical puzzle. Thanks, Ros!
Thank you - I learned much. I have a new list of books to read and some to reread.
Thank you so much! I'd love to hear what you think of whatever you read.
Wonderful video Hannah. Not a subject of read much on but you have given me some great titles to pursue
💜
Fascinating overview of lesbian fiction.
Thank you, Jim. I really hadn't thought through it quite so carefully until I started putting this together. Really made me think.
What a marvelous list!
Thanks, Ann!
Well this was great.
Thanks, Brian. This is one of my longtime favorite topics. I am proud of myself for not filming something 90 minutes long…
Fantastic video, thank you!
Thank you so much. So much of this literature is still underknown.
Hello Hannah 👋🏻. This was a really great video. As soon as I was done, I went right to Amazon and ordered The Gilda Stories. That sounds amazing!
I have read Nightwood by Djuna Barnes and loved it. I enjoyed her writing specifically. It's a short book. I read it in one 3 hour sitting - if that helps you decide to read it ❤.
Djuna Barnes just moved up much closer to the top of my TBR! Thank you!
@@HannahsBooks Absolutely! ❤
I refer to myself as a "retired Lesbian". After 50-plus years of loving women, I've retired from sex and romance. Hey, it works for me.
Ha! I love that wording!
A really interesting, information and useful video. I have Zami and The Color Purple on my library wishlists. I read Oranges are not the only fruit many years ago.
Zami is one of my all-time favorites. I think I read it at exactly the right moment!
I am 18 years old and I read Rubyfruit Jungle last year. I was also taken aback by the disdain for butch and masculine presenting lesbians. While it definitely was upsetting to read those parts of the book, I think they are some of the most valuable to me as a young genderqueer lesbian who cares deeply about lesbian history. Literature is an immensely helpful tool in uncovering sociological history. Lesbian literature has helped me open a window into the not so distant past and helped me get to know some of the lesbians who came before me- who paved the way for me to have the rights I do today. I want to get to know that history intimately, and that means engaging with the whole history, including the ugly parts. The bigotry in Rubyfruit Jungle is a part of that history. It’s also a part of my present. I see the exact same attitudes exhibited by the narrator/author exhibited by queer people my age: Infighting about who is allowed to identify with what labels, lesbians arguing about the place of gender nonconforming and gender queer lesbians in the community, cisgender queer folks putting down transgender queer folks in order to gain proximity to cishet approval, and even binary trans people putting down nonbinary trans people.
What a wonderful comment, Emma. I had certainly thought about the ways Rubyfruit Jungle reflects certain ideology of its time-ideas held by people within and outside the community-but I had not connected it to contemporary issues. Fascinating! Thank you so much!
What about Mary Renault's THE FRIENDLY YOUNG LADIES? It was in some ways a direct response to THE WELL OF LONELYNESS.
Ooh, I must go read this one! Thank you!
@@HannahsBooks I believe the US title was THE MIDDLE MIST.
Aw, Rubyfruit Jungle. I have read this so many times. I adore Rita Mae Brown. She knows her own mind and is never afraid to put her ideas out there. My copy is held together by electrical tape and prayers, and I will never let it go. This was not the first lesbian novel I found, however; that book was Robber's Wine by Ellen Hart, and I have read every book in that series. Jane Rule...If you haven't read Jane Rule - GO...This Is Not For You is magificent, but all of her books are beautiful creations impossible to put down. Virginia Woolf I read thanks to the Indigo Girls, and every time I re-read those books, there is something new. What actually brought me to this video was Diana Frederics, because there is almost NO information on this novel anywhere, so to find another person who has even heard of it is shocking. I got my copy at the Old Toronto Paper Show many years ago and I cherish it. I wish there was more.
I don’t know how I missed your excellent comment-but thank you so much for all the wonderful recommendations!
Very good and informative, thank you! But where is Sarah Waters? :)
Excellent addition-although here I am only talking about the pre-Waters periods of literature. Any other missing favorites?
great video ty x
Thanks, Isabelle!
Ooh I love lesbian books!!
Have any favorites--classic or contemporary?
Gertrude Stein! LOL!
I'm not sure I mentioned the story in this video, but my spouse David found the Gertrude Stein in a local Little Free Library!
@@HannahsBooks That's fantastic!
I read Rubyfruit 2 years ago as a 20 year old when I was just figuring out my sexuality. I really didn’t like the racial slurs and her commentary on butch and masculine women was pretty derogatory from what I recall. I think there’s better lesbian coming of age novels now but I wanted to read it because it’s considered a classic and I do appreciate what it did for young lesbians at that time.
Yep--that is exactly what my biggest reservation about the book is. She's so dismissive and rude about butch folks. But yes, definitely a classic. My personal favorite coming out novel was Annie On My Mind, which is much gentler!