Talk:LGBT literature

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I'm very confused - this is not a list of works of literature, but for the most part authors. The description does not match the content. And since there is no attempt to justify the inclusion of these authors some of them may well lead to edit wars. (E.g. are you suggsting Augustine was LGBT or that he had characters that were and if so which ones - and where? --Doc Glasgow 15:47, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

Thank you for your concerns. In its present form, this article is simply a very rough outline of gay literature. This article is intended to cover (or at least introduce) the wide ranging topic of LGBT lit. While it contains few works at the moment that will change. I have substituted the names of various authors in place of listing works, especially being that many individual works may not have separate articles. I realize that this list might cause problems for some, but as with this topic in other areas I imagine it will always be a source of some contention.
As for St. Augustine, one of those whom I imagine will be problematic, some scholars believe that he may have had relationships with other men in his young adulthood. Of course he later condemned homosexuality which also would make him important on this list. Here is a link to a source discussing Augustine's possible male/male relationships [1]. Ganymead 20:54, 20 May 2005 (UTC)
I'm not sure this title is appropriate at all unless the article is going to be confined to modern literature, which clearly it isn't. Exploding Boy 15:27, Jun 1, 2005 (UTC)
What would you suggest we call it? Ganymead 17:15, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Section from article

I moved the following section here because these works and authors do not, without some explanation, work as LGBT literature. The authors are not LGBT people, the works do not discuss LGBT issues, and so on. I'm not saying they shouldn't be returned to the article, but that an explanation is absolutely needed, something along the lines of "though the term LGBT, and the group that it identifies, is historically specific, and there is considerable debate as to whether a contemporary gay/lebian/trans/etc. identity can be equated to past identities... many works have been evaluated by contemporary LGBT people in light of modern LGBT identities" or whatever. I would write it myself, but I do not think I am familiar enough with contemporary lesbian/gay/trans literary criticism.


==Ancient Mesopotamia== *The Legend of [[Gilgamesh]] and [[Enkidu]]. ==Ancient Greece== *[[Plato|Plato's]] [[The Symposium]] - a discussion of the meaning of love. *[[Sappho]] ==Ancient Rome== *[[Catullus]] *[[Horace]] ==Middle Ages== *[[St. Augustine]] *[[Aelred of Rievaulx]] ==Renaissance== *[[Shakespeare]] *[[Christopher Marlowe]] ==Enlightenment== ==Romanticism== *[[Lord Byron]]

-Seth Mahoney 21:18, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Listify?

Should we just accept that no one is going to add any content to this article and rename it List of LGBT literature or something similar? -Seth Mahoney 03:16, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ganymede

Can anyone here help with the Ganymede discussion at Talk:As You Like It? AndyJones 15:25, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Contribution

I added Mary Renault to the list, because I believe that The Friendly Young Ladies, The Last of the Wine, and the Alexander trilogy are significant contributions to LGBT literature. Don't you? Firebreeze 23:08, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rewrite

tagged rewrite as it's currently just a list and not encyclopedic content. EvokeNZ 08:06, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

What if it was changed to "list of notable LGBT authors" or "authors writing about LGBT issues," and became a table-formatted list, and had brief summaries of the LGBT content of the authors's works? Polymathematics 15:56, 15 June 2007 (UTC)
This article's current form is not acceptable, but we do not need another list. This article is meant to be an overview/analysis of the genre, in particular its history. I think the "list" began as a jumping-off point, but editors continue to add authors and title instead of actual content! I have been anxious for this article to be expanded, but unfortunately I am not knowledgable on the subject and haven't had time to do any research. I'm going to ask that this article receive special attention from the LGBT studies WikiProject, but in the meantime if anyone stumbles across anyone able to step to the challenge, please ask them. TAnthony 16:10, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Some thoughts

So this is a really bare bones page. We need a section perhaps on LGBT critical theory (Butler, Sedgewick, etc.) a section on LGBT readings of classic literature (Moby Dick, etc.) and the inclusion of lesbians on the authors list (I just added a bunch off the top of my head, come on, Michael Field, Stacy D'Erasmo, why could I only think of a few others?) We need to add a section on the importance of pulp fiction in the mid-20th century, and a few articles on the big names like Wilde and Woolf and whatnot. The part on Stonewall seems pointless---most writers were active before and after. Perhaps we could do a Early American and British LGBT list and a Contemporary American and British LGBT authors list instead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jmsast (talk • contribs) 14:41, June 20, 2007

[edit] Good example for this article

African American literature is a great example of what I hope this article can become. It may take a while (and much research), but I'm hoping there are some editors out there who have the expertise/special interest to flesh out something just from personal knowledge. TAnthony 20:29, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Strong American/European slant

This article has a really strong American/European slant. For instance, the authors are broken down into Pre-Stonewall and Post-Stonewall writers. We should make an effort to be more inclusive of authors from non-English speaking countries. Queerudite 13:08, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

I'd hoped to do something along these lines, but it looks as if I won't have time to do the research. I've added a list of books about the subject, and added some significant books to the author list. Perhaps these will help anyone wanting to expand it. Robina Fox 17:16, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] LGBT literature - article or disambiguation?

I've moved the list out of this article and it's now looking very empty. I was wondering if an LGBT literature article could achieve or offer anything that separate lesbian literature, gay literature, &c. couldn't (lesbian literature is already well developed). Lesbian and gay literature have different histories and culture. Is there any point on working on this article or should a useful disambiguation be created? --Oldak Quill 23:55, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

  • I agree with you Oldak. In my view, there's little content in this that could not be better described in four discrete articles with a disambiguation. Kootenayvolcano 04:57, 12 September 2007 (UTC)