Contemporary Gay American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313280193 ISBN 13: 9780313280191

Publisher: Greenwood, 1993

Synopsis

Publication of this sourcebook on important gay American fiction writers grants legitimacy and recognition to this rapidly emerging area of literary studies. Though wary of canon-formation in this groundbreaking work, editor Nelson has selected fifty-seven writers whose works have received serious critical acclaim and/or have won large audiences or, in a few cases, are worthy of greater attention. Included are representative writers of detective fiction and science fiction, but not authors of erotic fiction or pulp novels. Also excluded are a few novelists whose expressed wishes for privacy were respected. Writers and their works are examined in the gay literary context, and a majority of the contributing essayists are themselves gay male scholars and writers who bring with them a level of personal and political sensitivity that is generally lacking in non-gay assessments of this literature.

Each entry begins with biographical information, proceeds to an interpretive summary of major works and themes, provides an overview of critical reception accorded the author, and concludes with bibliographies of primary and secondary materials. In a lively and perceptive introductory essay, Bredbeck inquires into what we mean by gay literature and the inherent tensions in these terms. Conceding the impossibility of speaking conclusively of gay literature, he nevertheless stresses the importance of the task and ends with a survey of critical studies of the gay male novel and works of gay male criticism.

About this title

Book Description

Bio-bibliographical and critical studies of fifty-seven important gay American fiction writers.

About the Author

EMMANUEL S. NELSON is Associate Professor of English at the State University of New York College at Cortland. His special interests in gay literature, post colonial literature, and ethnic American literature are reflected in his publications, including Connections: Essays on Black Literatures, AIDS: The Literary Response, and Reworlding: The Literature of the Indian Diaspora (Greenwood Press, 1992).

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0313280193
• ISBN 13: 9780313280191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 456
• Editor: Nelson Emmanuel S.