1960s Gay Pulp Fiction: The Misplaced Heritage (Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book)

As a result of a series of court cases, by the mid-1960s the U.S. post office could no longer interdict books that contained homosexuality. Gay writers were eager to take advantage of this new freedom, but the only houses poised to capitalize on the outpouring of manuscripts were "adult" paperback publishers who marketed their products with salacious covers. Gay critics, unlike their lesbian counterparts, have for the most part declined to take these works seriously, even though they cover an enormous range of genres: adventures, blue-collar and gray-flannel novels, coming-out stories, detective fiction, gothic novels, historical romances, military stories, political novels, prison fiction, romances, satires, sports stories, and spy thrillers -- with far more short story collections than is generally realized. Twelve scholars have now banded together to begin a recovery of this largely forgotten explosion of gay writing that occurred in the 1960s. Descriptions of these pulps have often been inadequate and misinforming, the result of misleading covers, unrepresentative sampling of texts, and a political blindness that refuses to grant worth to pre-Stonewall writing. This volume charts the broader implications of this state of affairs before examining some of the more significant pulp writers from the period. It brings together a diverse range of scholars, methodologies, and reading strategies. The evidence that these essays amass clearly demonstrates the significance of gay pulps for gay literary history, queer cultural studies, and book history. Proem : How To Read Gay Pulp Fiction / James J. Gifford -- Historicizing Pulp : Gay Male Pulp And The Narrativization Of Queer Cultural History / Whitney Strub -- Accept Your Essential Self : The Guild Press, Identity Formation, And Gay Male Community / Philip Clark -- Menus For Men ... Or What Have You : Consuming Gay Male Culture In Lou Rand Hogan's The Gay Detective And The Gay Cookbook / Pamela Robertson Wojcik -- Moonlight And Bosh And Bullshit : Phil Andros's $tud And The Creation Of A New Gay Ethic / Ann Marie Schott -- Carnal Matters : The Alexander Goodman Story / Reed Massengill -- Guerilla Literature : The Many Worlds Of Victor J. Banis / Randall Ivey -- Shepherds Redressed : Richard Amory's Song Of The Loon And The Reinvigoration Of The Spanish Pastoral Novel / Beth M. Bouloukos -- A Life Entirely Without Fear : Hindus, Homos, And Gay Pulp Fiction In Christopher Isherwood's A Meeting By The River / Jaime Harker -- Transcendent Submission : Resistance To Oppression In Jay Greene's Behind These Walls / Nicholas Alexander Hayes -- The Heroic Quest : Dirk Vanden's All Trilogy / Drewey Wayne Gunn -- An End To The Way : Pulp Becomes Classic Down-under / Jeremy Fisher -- Appendix. A Sampling Of 1960s Gay Pulp Authors. Edited By Drewey Wayne Gunn, Jaime Harker. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Proem : how to read gay pulp fiction / James J. Gifford Historicizing pulp : gay male pulp and the narrativization of queer cultural history "Accept your essential self" : the Guild Press, identity formation, and gay male community / Philip Clark "Menus for men or what have you" : consuming gay male culture in Lou Rand Hogan's The gay detective and The gay cookbook / Pamela Robertson Wojcik "Moonlight and bosh and bullshit" : Phil Andros's Stud and the creation of a "new gay ethic" / Ann Marie Schott Carnal matters : the Alexander Goodman story / Reed Massengill Guerilla [sic] literature : the many worlds of Victor J. Banis / Randall Ivey Shepherds redressed : Richard Amory's Song of the loon and the reinvigoration of the Spanish pastoral novel / Beth M. Bouloukos "A life entirely without fear" : Hindus, homos, and gay pulp fiction in Christopher Isherwood's A meeting by the river / Jaime Harker Transcendent submission : resistance to oppression in Jay Greene's Behind these walls / Nichoas Alexander Hayes The heroic quest : Dirk Vanden's All trilogy / Drewey Wayne Gunn An end to the way : pulp becomes classic Down-under / Jeremy Fisher Appendix. A sampling of 1960s gay pulp authors.