In the years following World War II, a small group of gay writers established themselves as literary power players, fueling cultural changes that would resonate for decades to come, and transforming the American literary landscape forever.
In Eminent Outlaws, novelist Christopher Bram brilliantly chronicles the rise of gay consciousness in American writing. Beginning with a first wave of major gay literary figures-Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Allen Ginsberg, and James Baldwin-he shows how (despite criticism and occasional setbacks) these pioneers set the stage for new generations of gay writers to build on what they had begun: Armistead Maupin, Edmund White, Tony Kushner, and Edward Albee among them.
Weaving together the crosscurrents, feuds, and subversive energies that provoked these writers to greatness, Eminent Outlaws is a rich and essential work. With keen insights, it takes readers through fifty years of momentous change: from a time when being a homosexual was a crime in forty-nine states and into an age of same-sex marriage and the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
Joe says:
"It's easy to forget that there was a time, not so long ago, when authors were not free to write about whatever they wanted. That it was illegal to write, sell, or possess books with homosexual content: immorality was not a subject fit to be written about. It is easy to forget that there was a time, again not so long ago, that if homosexuality was written about, it needed to be presented in a negative light. An unhappy ending was required to show the reader that this was not a path to chose. The 1960's and earlier is the time I mainly think of, but then against the scourge of AIDS, the 1980's and early 1990's brought about another period of such criticism against the expression of homosexuality in the arts. Gay marriage was unthinkable even twenty years ago, as it was a struggle to even talk about gay love.
Lately, it seems that all the progress toward equality is being made in courtrooms, or on the floors of state legislatures, rather than quietly by writers in their hidden rooms. Not through daring acts of drama presented on the stage but through impassioned speeches and YouTube video pleas for tolerance, or an end to bullying, or the universal power of love. In many ways, though, this continuing struggle for equality and acceptance first received an audience through the pages of books, and on the stages of off-Broadway, and then Broadway itself. Then translated for the masses into movies. Who's Afraid of Virigina Woolf?, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, In Cold Blood, A Home At The End of the World, Angels in America... all of these were written by gay men expressing their view of the world... one of pain, or hidden desire, or anger, or frustration.
Desire, grief, love. These are not exclusively hetero- or homosexual feelings, and the widespread acceptance of these works proved that. But their authors were sometimes pressured into hiding the true subjects of their work, just as sometimes they were harshly criticized by the mainstream for pushing an agenda. Critics railed at gay writers for putting their homosexuality into the words of their heterosexual characters. And later were criticized for writing openly about gay life, thus no longer being universal. For polluting the American psyche, the American stage, the American children. Yet these works have become classics of American literature, along with many others such as Howl by Allen Ginsberg and A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (also the author of what came to be widely known as "Cabaret").
Christopher Bram, in his latest book, Eminent Outlaws, traces the history of the gay writers, who from around 1950 until the present day, have changed the landscape not only of American literature and the arts, but of the American experience. Beginning with Gore Vidal, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, and continuing through Frank O'Hara, Allen Ginsberg, Edmund White through Isherwood, Armistead Maupin, Edward Albee and others, this extremely page-turning and fascinating study shines light on an often-forgotten subject. He discusses how even today, there is a general movement to remove the homosexuality from the memory of some of these writers, such as Allen Ginsberg.
In Eminent Outlaws, Bram highlights their sexuality not because of any political agenda, but rather to discuss their struggle to write about their experience. Society is not always kind to those who are different, be it the color of their skin, their political beliefs, or whom they love. Some of the most enduring art is created out of the pain inflicted by societal pressure to conform, or to hide. This art shows all of us what is universal: the desire to love, to be loved on our own terms; that we all feel pain and desire and grief and love.
Christopher Bram says he has been in the process of writing this book for a long time: through reading, discussions with friends, and his own writing. And it shows. This is a thoroughly-researched book. It is not one-sided. Throughout the book he lets conflicting voices be heard, through criticism in the reviews of the work, or in editorials, or from television. And this is not a simple, glowing exultation of these writers. They were at times, cranky, hypocritical, and mean-spirited just as much as they were sage, hilarious, and critically biting. What the reader is left with, having read Eminent Outlaws, is a well-rounded, deeply felt and personal study of many of the writers who have shaped American culture these last fifty or so years.
These were authors who spoke to all of us, even while speaking to some of us in the separate, hushed tones of 'you are not alone...it will be alright...' Bram brought back memories of secretly reading books, of reading between the lines trying to find an expression of the feelings I had... feelings that often left me alone and frightened. As a child growing up in the 1980's, with the specter of AIDS so entwined with the scourge of being gay, it was a frightening time to be a young gay man. Literature helped me beyond belief, just as it has done for countless people, gay or straight. To be told you are not alone, you will love and be loved is powerful news.
Christopher Bram's excellent Eminent Outlaws is a book I highly urge you to read. If you are a student of the American arts, or gay history, or interested in the long clash between conservatives and liberals, this is a book that will interest you. A friend asked to borrow my copy, but I don't think I can part with it. I will send him is own. Readable like a great novel, I couldn't put it down. As I read I remembered books I have read, and made a list of books I want to read. (For the first time or again.) Christopher Bram has given the world a book that will stand alongside the books he discusses: a classic."
In Eminent Outlaws, novelist Christopher Bram brilliantly chronicles the rise of gay consciousness in American writing. Beginning with a first wave of major gay literary figures-Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Allen Ginsberg, and James Baldwin-he shows how (despite criticism and occasional setbacks) these pioneers set the stage for new generations of gay writers to build on what they had begun: Armistead Maupin, Edmund White, Tony Kushner, and Edward Albee among them.
Weaving together the crosscurrents, feuds, and subversive energies that provoked these writers to greatness, Eminent Outlaws is a rich and essential work. With keen insights, it takes readers through fifty years of momentous change: from a time when being a homosexual was a crime in forty-nine states and into an age of same-sex marriage and the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
Joe says:
Lately, it seems that all the progress toward equality is being made in courtrooms, or on the floors of state legislatures, rather than quietly by writers in their hidden rooms. Not through daring acts of drama presented on the stage but through impassioned speeches and YouTube video pleas for tolerance, or an end to bullying, or the universal power of love. In many ways, though, this continuing struggle for equality and acceptance first received an audience through the pages of books, and on the stages of off-Broadway, and then Broadway itself. Then translated for the masses into movies. Who's Afraid of Virigina Woolf?, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, In Cold Blood, A Home At The End of the World, Angels in America... all of these were written by gay men expressing their view of the world... one of pain, or hidden desire, or anger, or frustration.
Desire, grief, love. These are not exclusively hetero- or homosexual feelings, and the widespread acceptance of these works proved that. But their authors were sometimes pressured into hiding the true subjects of their work, just as sometimes they were harshly criticized by the mainstream for pushing an agenda. Critics railed at gay writers for putting their homosexuality into the words of their heterosexual characters. And later were criticized for writing openly about gay life, thus no longer being universal. For polluting the American psyche, the American stage, the American children. Yet these works have become classics of American literature, along with many others such as Howl by Allen Ginsberg and A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (also the author of what came to be widely known as "Cabaret").
Christopher Bram, in his latest book, Eminent Outlaws, traces the history of the gay writers, who from around 1950 until the present day, have changed the landscape not only of American literature and the arts, but of the American experience. Beginning with Gore Vidal, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, and continuing through Frank O'Hara, Allen Ginsberg, Edmund White through Isherwood, Armistead Maupin, Edward Albee and others, this extremely page-turning and fascinating study shines light on an often-forgotten subject. He discusses how even today, there is a general movement to remove the homosexuality from the memory of some of these writers, such as Allen Ginsberg.
In Eminent Outlaws, Bram highlights their sexuality not because of any political agenda, but rather to discuss their struggle to write about their experience. Society is not always kind to those who are different, be it the color of their skin, their political beliefs, or whom they love. Some of the most enduring art is created out of the pain inflicted by societal pressure to conform, or to hide. This art shows all of us what is universal: the desire to love, to be loved on our own terms; that we all feel pain and desire and grief and love.
Christopher Bram says he has been in the process of writing this book for a long time: through reading, discussions with friends, and his own writing. And it shows. This is a thoroughly-researched book. It is not one-sided. Throughout the book he lets conflicting voices be heard, through criticism in the reviews of the work, or in editorials, or from television. And this is not a simple, glowing exultation of these writers. They were at times, cranky, hypocritical, and mean-spirited just as much as they were sage, hilarious, and critically biting. What the reader is left with, having read Eminent Outlaws, is a well-rounded, deeply felt and personal study of many of the writers who have shaped American culture these last fifty or so years.
These were authors who spoke to all of us, even while speaking to some of us in the separate, hushed tones of 'you are not alone...it will be alright...' Bram brought back memories of secretly reading books, of reading between the lines trying to find an expression of the feelings I had... feelings that often left me alone and frightened. As a child growing up in the 1980's, with the specter of AIDS so entwined with the scourge of being gay, it was a frightening time to be a young gay man. Literature helped me beyond belief, just as it has done for countless people, gay or straight. To be told you are not alone, you will love and be loved is powerful news.
Christopher Bram's excellent Eminent Outlaws is a book I highly urge you to read. If you are a student of the American arts, or gay history, or interested in the long clash between conservatives and liberals, this is a book that will interest you. A friend asked to borrow my copy, but I don't think I can part with it. I will send him is own. Readable like a great novel, I couldn't put it down. As I read I remembered books I have read, and made a list of books I want to read. (For the first time or again.) Christopher Bram has given the world a book that will stand alongside the books he discusses: a classic."
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