I do not mean gay or bisexual writers, of whom for whatever reason that are actually quite a few. I mean out and out gay writers, writers who include a lot of gay themes in their work? Obviously gay men want to read this stuff, but is any of it of any interest to straight men or possibly women?
I personally cannot recommend William S. Burroughs highly enough. He is one of the last century’s finest writers, and I have almost all of this work. There are homosexual themes running through his work, as Burroughs was very much a gay man.
There is also a lot of explicit gay sex in his books, albeit often written in a flowery, literary and even beautiful style. I read all of that stuff and it didn’t really bother me, but then it didn’t turn me on either. I suppose you could say I skimmed through it. I would be reading along and then it would come to the gay scenes and my mind would say, “Ok here is the fag stuff,” and then I would cruise through that part pretty fast. Gay sex in print doesn’t generally disgust me, but it does nothing for me either, and it’s a bit uncomfortable to read. I generally feel like I want to skim through this part and get it over with as soon as possible.
Burroughs’ work is valuable far above and beyond the gay stuff, and many straight people, especially hipsters, read him. In particular Naked Lunch is his magnum opus. I remember lending it out to guys, and they would bring the book back to me with stunned looks on their faces. People started saying I was gay because I read Naked Lunch and was loaning it out. Well, that proves it, right?
The problem is there aren’t many others. I tried to read some Jean Genet, and it is very beautiful, but I never read any of his books in full.
I did read a book called The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt. Although it had a gay theme, it was a very good book. I would recommend it highly. Supposedly Leavitt is some sort of a crossover writer, a gay writer who is accepted by the straight literary community.
I wonder if any straight people read John Rechy? I am told he is supposed to be a great writer, but unfortunately, his books are almost all about homosexuality and nothing else and his recent books are full of a lot of explicit gay sex. Most of his readers seem to be gay. However, City of Night is supposed to be a classic, and it was praised by Ken Kesey and Norman Mailer. In the song L.A. Woman, Jim Morrison voices the lines, “City of night! City of night! City of nighiiiiiieyeyight city of night!” He is supposedly referencing this book.
Based on rave reviews by Kesey and Mailer, I think we could recommend City of Night for straight readers. There’s almost no explicit sex in it anyway?
The Coming of the Night also has straight fans.
Do many straights actually read Rechy? If you do an online search on him, most of the folks writing about him are gay themselves.
I went to see Dennis Cooper read once in this seedy downtown bar in Los Angeles. All the usual maniacs were there, and unfortunately there were quite a few gay guys there too. He had sort of a punk reputation, so there was that element too. I remember that one of LA’s biggest writers was in the audience next to me. Later Cooper was next to me in the audience and he seemed to be making comments about me, but I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. Cooper is supposed to be a great writer, but he seems to have chosen self-ostracization with his focus on gay themes.
I think the problem with a lot of these gay writers is they are pigeonholing themselves. I have read that if Rechy did not write about all that gay stuff, he would have been regarded as a great writer by now and would not be stuck in the gay literary ghetto. It seems like a bad career decision by a gay author to focus so much on homosexuality. Do straight writers spend their whole books writing about the sex lives in one way or another also? Are gay men’s sex lives so important that they must obsess about them every time they sit down to write about something?
The problem with a fine writer like Rechy is that there is so much explicit gay sex in his books that I would imagine most straight guys reading him would either put down the book in disgust or toss it halfway across the room. This is sad as I am told that he is probably the finest gay author alive today, and his books are true literature. You either resign yourself to being read by 3% of population and ignored by 97% or you tone down the gay stuff. Rechy has locked himself into a prison.
