The Penguin Book of Gay Short StoriesDavid Leavitt, Mark Lindsey Mitchell This is an anthology of stories that, in the words of its co-editor David Leavitt, "illuminate the experience of love between men, explore the nature of homosexual identity, or investigate the kinds of relationships gay men have with each other, with their friends, and with their families". It is not a collection of stories written exclusively by gay authors; indeed, readers may be surprised to discover that some of their favorite women writers and straight male writers have also explored the territory. What the stories do share is a refusal to ghettoize gay men as denizens of the gay nocturnal subculture. The men in these stories live very much in the world; their sexuality, though an important aspect of their lives, doesn't singularly define them. The thirty-nine stories brought together here suggest the ways in which gay experience has - and hasn't - changed over the course of this century, starting with the tender, unarticulated longings of two boys swimming in D. H. Lawrence's "A Poem of Friendship" and ending with the explicit sexual interaction of two boys in a bathtub in A. M. Homes's "The Whiz Kids". In between there is every imaginable kind of gay story, as offered by well-known authors and by those less familiar to the devotees of the genre. There is wry humor in Barbara Pym's clever manipulation of romantic convention; painful accounts of discovery in Larry Kramer's "Mrs. Tefillin"; the consolation of age in Edmund White's "Reprise"; and in Randall Kenan's "Run, Mourner, Run", the breaking of both racial and sexual taboos. The anthology also encompasses a richly diverse subcategory of stories inspired by AIDS, from such writers as Allen Barnett, Michael Cunningham, StephenGreco, Dennis McFarland, and Peter Wells: stories that explore not only the tragedy of the epidemic but also the triumphs, even the erotic possibilities, that have been generated in its wake. These stories illuminate the common ground of gay male experience - as well as its astonishing diversity. |
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Page 175
... kissed him . He kissed me back , with astonishing passion , and hugged me close , with a fervor totally unsuspected from someone as mysteriously reserved as Tomohiro Matsubara . And as I explored his body , and he explored mine , I ...
... kissed him . He kissed me back , with astonishing passion , and hugged me close , with a fervor totally unsuspected from someone as mysteriously reserved as Tomohiro Matsubara . And as I explored his body , and he explored mine , I ...
Page 209
... kissed his ring before they reached the end of the block . They crossed the street and a third woman knelt and kissed his ring . For her he wearily made a sign of the cross ; and then they went into a store . The acknowl- edgment of ...
... kissed his ring before they reached the end of the block . They crossed the street and a third woman knelt and kissed his ring . For her he wearily made a sign of the cross ; and then they went into a store . The acknowl- edgment of ...
Page 485
... kissed , just once , down in the shadows of the corn . We'd been waiting to do it since we were ten . For a moment we left our lives , and kissing became something we could do , drunk , dazzled by the heat . His mouth tasted of gin and ...
... kissed , just once , down in the shadows of the corn . We'd been waiting to do it since we were ten . For a moment we left our lives , and kissing became something we could do , drunk , dazzled by the heat . His mouth tasted of gin and ...
Contents
CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD | 24 |
NOËL COWARD | 72 |
J R ACKERLEY | 109 |
Copyright | |
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A. M. Homes Angela Antibes arms Arrowsmith asked Barbara Pym Barbie beautiful Bradley called course Daniel dark David Leavitt Dean door dressed drink E. M. Forster Enzo Eric everything eyes face Farragut father feel felt fucking George Willard Gertrude girl glass golliwog hair hand head heard homosexual Horst Jason Jimmy Jody kids kissed knew laughed lived looked Louise Lymie Mace-Hamilton Mack Milo mind morning mother mouth Nathan never nice night Noah Noël Coward Öçi opma Perry Peter Prairie Oyster pulled remember Rivka saké Sally seemed Sergio sitting smile someone stay stood stopped story sure talk tefillin tell there's thing thought told Tony took Torridge turned voice waiting walked watched Wiltshire window Winesburg woman wondered young