gay blog/website about literature
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1favntag Primo messaggio
Hi everybody.
I wonder if anybody can recommend a good blog or website about literature?
Or recommend a new good book?
I wonder if anybody can recommend a good blog or website about literature?
Or recommend a new good book?
2lilithcat
Check out:
Lambda Literary Foundation
Lambda Rising Bookstore
Alyson Bookstore (website for Alyson Publishers)
Lambda Literary Foundation
Lambda Rising Bookstore
Alyson Bookstore (website for Alyson Publishers)
3tomcatMurr
Questo messaggio è stato cancellato dall'autore.
4kingkama
I use glbtq.com quite often. This site gives the reader a historical overview of the type of literature you choose with a sampling of authors.
5Biblio722
A Web site I read from time to time is "Books to Watch Out For," at www.btwof.com/. It's not updated frequently it has good reviews.
6blakefraina
This is a great, comprehensive sight with reviews of gay men's literature and film.
http://www.squashduck.com/ltd/
Be warned, the reviewers (both British women) are overly kind (i.e., they have something good to say about almost all the books), but they've turned me onto many things I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
http://www.squashduck.com/ltd/
Be warned, the reviewers (both British women) are overly kind (i.e., they have something good to say about almost all the books), but they've turned me onto many things I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
7Rood
The H-Histsex site (below) may not be quite what you require, but articles, books, book reviews and news appear on a daily basis at
H-HISTSEX@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Below please find the latest example.
Rood
From:
Date: 2009/7/19
Subject: Obituary: Louis Crompton and Simon Karlinsky
The following is copied from my blog Dyneslines.blogspot.com--
Two giants of gay scholarship, Louis Crompton and Simon Karlinsky, passed
away last week in the Bay Area of California.
Louis Crompton died at age 84 in El Cerrito, California on July 11, 2009.
Born in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, on April 5, 1925, he was the son of
Clarence Crompton, Master Mariner, and Mabel Crompton. He graduated from the
University of Toronto with an M.A. in mathematics in 1948, and from the
University of Chicago with a Ph.D. in English in 1954. After teaching
mathematics at the University of British Columbia and English at the
University of Toronto, he joined the English department at the University of
Nebraska at Lincoln in 1955, retiring in 1989.
Louis Crompton's work in the early days of the modern gay movement has been
included in a soon-to-be released documentary film, Before Homosexuals,
directed by John Scagliotti. Before he turned to gay studies, Crompton
enjoyed an international reputation as a Bernard Shaw scholar. His book on
Shaw's plays, Shaw the Dramatist, won the national Phi Beta Kappa Christian
Gauss Award for Literary Criticism for 1969. In 1970 his pioneering
interdisciplinary course in gay studies at the University of Nebraska at
Lincoln, reputedly the second in the nation, became an issue in that year's
state elections; one legislator introduced a bill banning=2
0the teaching about homosexuality at any state college. The bill failed.
Nonetheless, Professor Crompton concluded that it would be wise to cease
giving the course. Undeterred, he decided to pursue scholarship in the field
through articles and books.
In 1978 Crompton achieved a major “scoop” with his publication (in the
Journal of Homosexuality) of Jeremy Bentham’s essay “Offenses against One’s
Self: Pederasty,” which had languished since the British thinker first wrote
it in 1785, Bentham also figures in his monograph Byron and Greek Love:
Homophobia in 19th-century England (1985).
In 1974 Crompton co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Caucus of the Modern
Language Association which attracted a large membership. In 1978 the
Association began the Crompton-Noll award, administered through the gay and
lesbian caucus of the MLA. The award pays tribute to Professors Crompton and
Dolores Noll (the latter of Kent State University). I first met Lou through
our common work in the National Committee for Sexual Civil Liberties, headed
by Arthur Warner.
Homosexuality and Civilization (2003), his magnum opus, required 19 years in
the writing, even more in the gestation. Working with the utmost patience
through the records documenting same-sex love, Louis Crompton tackled the
Herculean task of chronicling the history of homosexuality in Europe and
parts of Asia from Homer to the eighteenth century. In a series of pithy
accounts, the author detailed the "rich and terrible" stories of men and
women who have been=2
0immortalized, celebrated, shunned or executed for the special attention
they paid to members of their own sex. Two chapters on China and Japan are a
welcome complement to the usual Eurocentric focus. In the context of world
history, Crompton's comparative study reveals the anomaly of Judeo-Christian
aversion to homosexuality.
Rejecting the social-construction approach that flourished under the aegis
of Michel Foucault, Crompton went directly to the sources, triumphantly
showing how much could be accomplished by applying the well-established
methodology of the historian. Defying the current fashion that holds that
gay history began only about 1700--or even as late as 1869--this book
triumphantly affirms the unity of gay history. Even in the West, which has
seen a major affliction of antihomosexual sentiment, the pattern is one of
affimation, retreat, and renewed affirmation.
Lou Crompton is survived by his companion of many years, Luis Diaz-Perdomo.
Simon Karlinsky was born in 1924 to a Russian-Jewish family living in
Manchuria. He came to America when he was 14. His father, who was
sympathetic to the Soviet Union, wisely decided not to return there. Simon
and I sometimes compared notes about growing up in a far-Left family,
finding our bearings to a saner view as young adults.
At first it seemed that Simon Karlinsky would make his mark as a composer.
His “Five Piano Pieces” are still occasionally performed. But his superb
linguistic skills impelled him to become a professor of Russian philology, a
topic he20pursued in many years of teaching in the Department of Slavic
Languages at the University of California, Berkeley.
Karlinsky’s masterpiece is his Sexual Labyrinth of Nikolai Gogol of 1976.
Through careful readings of the Ukrainian writer’s most famous works,
Karlinsky argues that Gogol's homosexual orientation—which Gogol himself
could not accept or forgive in himself—may provide the missing key to the
riddle of Gogol's personality. This work is no simple excercise in “outing”
but a subtle exploration of the possibility that sexual repression may be
the key to understanding this tormented personality--a personality that is
responsible for some of the most brilliant works of world literature.
Karlinsky also published and edited books by and about Marina Tsvetaeva,
Zinnaida Gippius, Edmund Wilson, and Vladimir Nabokov. I am proud to have
published his article on Russia in the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality.
Louis Crompton and Simon Karlinsky were beacons of sanity against the
backdrop of the painful birth of gay studies. Yet the exemplary work of
Crompton and Karlinsky points up two problems--two categories of growing
pains, as it were--that have afflicted the emerging field of gay studies.
Here is the first of these issues. Not unlike ethnic groups who have
suffered discrimination, gay and lesbian people have sought to bolster their
collective self-esteem by compiling lists of famous homosexuals from various
walks of life. This approach has the effect of focusing on the elite to the
neglect of20the life circumstances of most gay men and lesbians across the
centuries. Another difficulty is highlighted by the opening paragraph of the
Wikipedia List of such persons. “This is a referenced overview list of
notable gay, lesbian or bisexual people, who have either been open about
their sexuality of for which reliable sources exist. Famous people who are
simply rumored to be gay, lesbian or bisexual, are not listed.”
This distinction--between the ascertained cases and those who are merely
rumored to be such--is not easy to establish. The reason is that in the
past, and even today, many individuals have found it prudent to remain in
the closet. The protective gear they donned was intended to thwart hostile
efforts at outing. Later, they served as an obstacle to friendly efforts.
In some instances gay scholars have been unable to resist outing figures who
probably could not be outed because they were not gay in the first place.
Consider the case of Abraham Lincoln, the subject of an ingenious book by my
late friend Clarence Tripp. This book has been available for four years now.
The overwhelming consensus among Lincoln scholar is that Tripp did not prove
his case, and Lincoln was not gay. Still, the allegation is believed by many
gay and lesbian people. Such shanghaiing creates a gulf between “straight”
scholarship and gay scholarship, tending to discredit the latter.
The other problem is the way in which Queer Theory has elbowed its way to
the forefront of our studies. Regarded20by some as a branch of gender
studies, Queer Theory became prominent in the early 1990s. Heavily
influenced by the work of Michel Foucault, this approach claims to be a kind
of hermeneutics fostering “queer readings” of all sorts of texts.
The word queer is itself problematic because its advocates have not
succeeded in divesting it of its negative charge. The reference is also
unclear. Are “queers” simply gay, lesbian, and bisexual people? Or does the
term embrace all sorts of groups and individuals who have been regarded as
eccentric and deviant”
To judge from the work produced so far, most contributions to Queer Theory
have been rhetorical. The method permits its practitioners to dispense with
empirical research, and simply reprocess their often rather banal ideas in
an arcane jargon that gives the appearance, but not the reality of novelty.
Under attack by Larry Kramer and others, Queer Theory is now fading. Yet the
damage that this fad has done will not soon disappear.
The only peers that come to mind of Louis Crompton and Simon Karlinsky are
scholars in their sixties and seventies. To be sure, HIV/AIDS has taken its
toll. But devastating in their own way are the two pseudo-sciences I have
just discussed: indiscriminate outing of past figures, and the bluster of
Queer Theory.
I have said enough about Crompton and Karlinsky to demonstrate the enduring
value of their work. Something else must be added, something that at one
time we took for granted, but can no
longer. Both of these scholars were superbly r e l i a b l e. When they
ascertained that something was a fact, they certified that it was. When
doubt remained, they indicated that as well. Let us hope that the passing of
Crompton and Karlinsky does not signal a fatal decline of the integrity of
gay scholarship. In fact I think that we can recover from the two blights I
have mentioned. From time to time I will review works that show that their
authors have successfully eluded the lure of shoddy methodology.
H-HISTSEX@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Below please find the latest example.
Rood
From:
Date: 2009/7/19
Subject: Obituary: Louis Crompton and Simon Karlinsky
The following is copied from my blog Dyneslines.blogspot.com--
Two giants of gay scholarship, Louis Crompton and Simon Karlinsky, passed
away last week in the Bay Area of California.
Louis Crompton died at age 84 in El Cerrito, California on July 11, 2009.
Born in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, on April 5, 1925, he was the son of
Clarence Crompton, Master Mariner, and Mabel Crompton. He graduated from the
University of Toronto with an M.A. in mathematics in 1948, and from the
University of Chicago with a Ph.D. in English in 1954. After teaching
mathematics at the University of British Columbia and English at the
University of Toronto, he joined the English department at the University of
Nebraska at Lincoln in 1955, retiring in 1989.
Louis Crompton's work in the early days of the modern gay movement has been
included in a soon-to-be released documentary film, Before Homosexuals,
directed by John Scagliotti. Before he turned to gay studies, Crompton
enjoyed an international reputation as a Bernard Shaw scholar. His book on
Shaw's plays, Shaw the Dramatist, won the national Phi Beta Kappa Christian
Gauss Award for Literary Criticism for 1969. In 1970 his pioneering
interdisciplinary course in gay studies at the University of Nebraska at
Lincoln, reputedly the second in the nation, became an issue in that year's
state elections; one legislator introduced a bill banning=2
0the teaching about homosexuality at any state college. The bill failed.
Nonetheless, Professor Crompton concluded that it would be wise to cease
giving the course. Undeterred, he decided to pursue scholarship in the field
through articles and books.
In 1978 Crompton achieved a major “scoop” with his publication (in the
Journal of Homosexuality) of Jeremy Bentham’s essay “Offenses against One’s
Self: Pederasty,” which had languished since the British thinker first wrote
it in 1785, Bentham also figures in his monograph Byron and Greek Love:
Homophobia in 19th-century England (1985).
In 1974 Crompton co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Caucus of the Modern
Language Association which attracted a large membership. In 1978 the
Association began the Crompton-Noll award, administered through the gay and
lesbian caucus of the MLA. The award pays tribute to Professors Crompton and
Dolores Noll (the latter of Kent State University). I first met Lou through
our common work in the National Committee for Sexual Civil Liberties, headed
by Arthur Warner.
Homosexuality and Civilization (2003), his magnum opus, required 19 years in
the writing, even more in the gestation. Working with the utmost patience
through the records documenting same-sex love, Louis Crompton tackled the
Herculean task of chronicling the history of homosexuality in Europe and
parts of Asia from Homer to the eighteenth century. In a series of pithy
accounts, the author detailed the "rich and terrible" stories of men and
women who have been=2
0immortalized, celebrated, shunned or executed for the special attention
they paid to members of their own sex. Two chapters on China and Japan are a
welcome complement to the usual Eurocentric focus. In the context of world
history, Crompton's comparative study reveals the anomaly of Judeo-Christian
aversion to homosexuality.
Rejecting the social-construction approach that flourished under the aegis
of Michel Foucault, Crompton went directly to the sources, triumphantly
showing how much could be accomplished by applying the well-established
methodology of the historian. Defying the current fashion that holds that
gay history began only about 1700--or even as late as 1869--this book
triumphantly affirms the unity of gay history. Even in the West, which has
seen a major affliction of antihomosexual sentiment, the pattern is one of
affimation, retreat, and renewed affirmation.
Lou Crompton is survived by his companion of many years, Luis Diaz-Perdomo.
Simon Karlinsky was born in 1924 to a Russian-Jewish family living in
Manchuria. He came to America when he was 14. His father, who was
sympathetic to the Soviet Union, wisely decided not to return there. Simon
and I sometimes compared notes about growing up in a far-Left family,
finding our bearings to a saner view as young adults.
At first it seemed that Simon Karlinsky would make his mark as a composer.
His “Five Piano Pieces” are still occasionally performed. But his superb
linguistic skills impelled him to become a professor of Russian philology, a
topic he20pursued in many years of teaching in the Department of Slavic
Languages at the University of California, Berkeley.
Karlinsky’s masterpiece is his Sexual Labyrinth of Nikolai Gogol of 1976.
Through careful readings of the Ukrainian writer’s most famous works,
Karlinsky argues that Gogol's homosexual orientation—which Gogol himself
could not accept or forgive in himself—may provide the missing key to the
riddle of Gogol's personality. This work is no simple excercise in “outing”
but a subtle exploration of the possibility that sexual repression may be
the key to understanding this tormented personality--a personality that is
responsible for some of the most brilliant works of world literature.
Karlinsky also published and edited books by and about Marina Tsvetaeva,
Zinnaida Gippius, Edmund Wilson, and Vladimir Nabokov. I am proud to have
published his article on Russia in the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality.
Louis Crompton and Simon Karlinsky were beacons of sanity against the
backdrop of the painful birth of gay studies. Yet the exemplary work of
Crompton and Karlinsky points up two problems--two categories of growing
pains, as it were--that have afflicted the emerging field of gay studies.
Here is the first of these issues. Not unlike ethnic groups who have
suffered discrimination, gay and lesbian people have sought to bolster their
collective self-esteem by compiling lists of famous homosexuals from various
walks of life. This approach has the effect of focusing on the elite to the
neglect of20the life circumstances of most gay men and lesbians across the
centuries. Another difficulty is highlighted by the opening paragraph of the
Wikipedia List of such persons. “This is a referenced overview list of
notable gay, lesbian or bisexual people, who have either been open about
their sexuality of for which reliable sources exist. Famous people who are
simply rumored to be gay, lesbian or bisexual, are not listed.”
This distinction--between the ascertained cases and those who are merely
rumored to be such--is not easy to establish. The reason is that in the
past, and even today, many individuals have found it prudent to remain in
the closet. The protective gear they donned was intended to thwart hostile
efforts at outing. Later, they served as an obstacle to friendly efforts.
In some instances gay scholars have been unable to resist outing figures who
probably could not be outed because they were not gay in the first place.
Consider the case of Abraham Lincoln, the subject of an ingenious book by my
late friend Clarence Tripp. This book has been available for four years now.
The overwhelming consensus among Lincoln scholar is that Tripp did not prove
his case, and Lincoln was not gay. Still, the allegation is believed by many
gay and lesbian people. Such shanghaiing creates a gulf between “straight”
scholarship and gay scholarship, tending to discredit the latter.
The other problem is the way in which Queer Theory has elbowed its way to
the forefront of our studies. Regarded20by some as a branch of gender
studies, Queer Theory became prominent in the early 1990s. Heavily
influenced by the work of Michel Foucault, this approach claims to be a kind
of hermeneutics fostering “queer readings” of all sorts of texts.
The word queer is itself problematic because its advocates have not
succeeded in divesting it of its negative charge. The reference is also
unclear. Are “queers” simply gay, lesbian, and bisexual people? Or does the
term embrace all sorts of groups and individuals who have been regarded as
eccentric and deviant”
To judge from the work produced so far, most contributions to Queer Theory
have been rhetorical. The method permits its practitioners to dispense with
empirical research, and simply reprocess their often rather banal ideas in
an arcane jargon that gives the appearance, but not the reality of novelty.
Under attack by Larry Kramer and others, Queer Theory is now fading. Yet the
damage that this fad has done will not soon disappear.
The only peers that come to mind of Louis Crompton and Simon Karlinsky are
scholars in their sixties and seventies. To be sure, HIV/AIDS has taken its
toll. But devastating in their own way are the two pseudo-sciences I have
just discussed: indiscriminate outing of past figures, and the bluster of
Queer Theory.
I have said enough about Crompton and Karlinsky to demonstrate the enduring
value of their work. Something else must be added, something that at one
time we took for granted, but can no
longer. Both of these scholars were superbly r e l i a b l e. When they
ascertained that something was a fact, they certified that it was. When
doubt remained, they indicated that as well. Let us hope that the passing of
Crompton and Karlinsky does not signal a fatal decline of the integrity of
gay scholarship. In fact I think that we can recover from the two blights I
have mentioned. From time to time I will review works that show that their
authors have successfully eluded the lure of shoddy methodology.
8NickMat
Visit Rictor Norton's website: http://rictornorton.co.uk/
The most comprehensive listings available on Gay Literature!
The most comprehensive listings available on Gay Literature!
9skyebluelake
I've always loved the conversations at The Well. The author and members discuss a new book every week ( or it might be every two weeks). Currently, Mike Weiss author of "Double Play: The Hidden Passions Behind the Double Assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk" is discussing his book. Really interesting.
"Wide-ranging talks between authors, artists and other interesting people. Conversations in the Inkwell are viewable by all within The WELL and out on the Web: no password required."
Try it out! http://www.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/
No password required. Click on "Join us at the Inkwell"
"Wide-ranging talks between authors, artists and other interesting people. Conversations in the Inkwell are viewable by all within The WELL and out on the Web: no password required."
Try it out! http://www.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/
No password required. Click on "Join us at the Inkwell"
10innersmile
Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings:
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/
11charmngbilly
Band of Thebes has often been quite useful in finding what's new by blessedly not str8 authors.
http://bandofthebes.typepad.com
http://bandofthebes.typepad.com
