Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps
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Long before the rise of the modern gay movement, an unnoticed literary revolution was occurring, mostly between the covers of the cheaply produced pulp paperbacks of the post-World War II era. Cultural critic Michael Bronski collects a sampling of these now little-known gay erotic writings—some by writers long forgotten, some never known and a few now famous. Through them, Bronski challenges many long-held views of American postwar fiction and the rise of gay literature, as well as of the culture at large.Publishers WeeklyNoting research that included reading "just over 225 novels," cultural critic Bronski (The Pleasure Principle) delightfully chronicles gay pulp novels from their emergence in the late 1940s through the post-Stonewall era in this expansive, exhaustively researched amalgam of fiction and gay history. In the earliest novels, homosexual characters were often drawn as angst-ridden men living hideaway lives. These mild tales gave way to the more outrageous and sexually intrepid plot lines of the 1950s and early '60s as gay male pulps gained momentum-typical is a locker-room fantasy scene from Jay Little's Maybe-Tomorrow. As the 1960s progressed, fiction grew bolder in form and content. Richard Amory's lush The Song of the Loon was a landmark title, its literary aspirations plain, while other titles of the era-racy fictions like Jack Love's Gay Whore, a melodrama set on Fire Island, and the pseudonymous Memoirs of Jeff X-were willing to settle for being "extraordinarily profitable." The gay revolution unleashed by the Stonewall riots is boldly evident in excerpts by Marcus Miller (from Gay Revolution), and a selection from Bruce Benderson's 1975 erotic potboiler, Kyle. Prefacing each section with thoughtful background on the period, Bronski then steps back to let the generous novel excerpts speak for themselves. Bronski has searched thoroughly and thought-provokingly, and this book should pop up on required reading lists for gay studies courses (the extensive appendix is invaluable). This is obviously a labor of love, and an absolute must for gay historians and those interested in stimulating gay fiction from years gone by. (Jan.) Forecast: Dual marketing to history buffs and fiction readers should double this title's chances. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1The Night Air30Sam55"Spur Piece" from Derricks86Maybe - Tomorrow108The Gay Year132Whisper His Sin142The Strange Ones154Lost on Twilight Road165Memoirs of Jeff X176The Boys of Muscle Beach198Song of the Loon212My Purple Winter225Gay Whore239A Different Drum254Gay Revolution277Kyle290The Gay Haunt305Gay Rights322AppGay Novels, 1940-1969339Bibliography369
