by Doris Betts
First published 1977
This anthology brings together twenty-six stories from 1893 to 1975, each exploring themes of homosexual experience and identity. The collection opens with Marcel Proust's "Before dark" and includes works by literary giants like Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and Tennessee Williams alongside lesser-known voices. Stories range from E.M. Forster's "Arthur Snatchfold" to Gore Vidal's "Pages from an abandoned journal" and Edmund White's "The beautiful room is empty." The anthology captures different eras and attitudes, from the coded language of early twentieth century fiction to more direct explorations in later decades. Contributors include Gertrude Stein, D.H. Lawrence, Radclyffe Hall, and Christopher Isherwood. The final story, Jane Rule's "Middle children," represents the mid-1970s moment when gay literature was finding new voices. Together, these pieces trace the evolution of how fiction has portrayed love and desire between people of the same gender across nearly a century of American and British writing.
Genres: anthologies, historical-fiction, 20th-century, lgbt, gay, gay-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, love-story
Period: 1893, 1975
349 pages · Paperback · Vintage Books
Content warnings: homophobia, sexual-content