The Other Persuasion: short fiction about gay men and women

by Seymour Kleinberg (Editor)

Before dark (1893) / by Marcel Proust ; translated by Richard Howard --
Mabel Neathe (1903) / by Gertrude Stein --
Prologue to Women in love (1921) / by D.H. Lawrence --
Miss Ogilvy finds herself (1926) / by Radclyffe Hall --
Arthur Snatchfold (1928) / by E.M. Forster --
Divorce in Naples (1931) / by William Faulkner --
Just boys (1931-1934) / by James T. Farrell --
The knife of the times (1932) / by William Carlos Williams --
The sea change / by Ernest Hemingway --
Momma (1947) / by John Horne Burns --
Pages from Cold Point (1950) / by Paul Bowles --
Letters and life (1952) / by Christopher Isherwood --
My brother writes poetry for an Englishman (1953) / by Marris Murray --
Two on a party (1954) / by Tennessee Williams --
You may safely gaze (1956) / by James Purdy --
Pages from an abandoned journal (1956) / by Gore Vidal --
Johnnie (1958) / by Joan O'Donovan --
The threesome (1961) / by Helen Essary Ansell --
A step towards Gomorrah (1961) / by Ingeborg Bachmann ; translated by Michael Bullock --
Jurge Dulrumple (1962) / by John O'Hara --
The wreck (1962) / by Maude Hutchins --
The beautiful room is empty (1966) / by Edmund White --
Chagrin in three parts (1967) / by Graham Greene --
Miss A. and Miss M. (1972) / by Elizabeth Taylor --
Burning th bed (1973) / by Doris Betts --
Middle children (1975) / by Jane Rule.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Short Stories, Anthologies, Literature, Gay

349 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[David Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories has a great amount of value in providing a historical representation of fiction in the twentieth century. This was the century of modernism, when doors were opened on a variety of subjects formerly kept behind the fictional curtains. Kleinberg made a wise choice in having stories about gay men and women and not necessarily by gay men and women. The collection covers fiction from 1893 to 1975 and so gives the reader a progressive account of sexual politics in the West, primarily but not exclusively in the UK and US. It begins with a lost story from the early days of Marcel Proust. "Before Dark" is typical early Proust, a mixture of sentiment and decadence. Gertrude Stein's "Mabel Neathe" is another example of early work by a writer who would become well known later. It is still in touch with the nineteenth century, of hiding lesbian desires behind "friendship" and "devotion. D. H. Lawrence's "Prologue to Women in Love" is a definite step into the modern mode. Lawrence writes about homosexual desire with the same openness and attention to the passions that he gives in writing about heterosexual desire. Stories from the 1920s and 1930s tend to be written as though homosexuality were newly discovered, with the homosexual content as the "shocker" at the end of the story. Once the stories get to the 1950s, the subject changes to the lifestyles, moods, and ambitions of homosexuals. The idea of homosexuality is taken as "given" more or less in these stories. Also, we start seeing an openness in the language and an increasing profusion of profane language and directly sexual dialogue. The outstanding stories for me included "Pages from Coldfront" by Paul Bowles. It is a story of a morally questionable single father trying to come to grips with his equally morally questionable teenage son, who is gay. "Two on a Party" by Tennessee Williams is another excellent tale, this time about a gay man and a straight woman who form a peculiar friendship while they travel up and down the eastern US cruising for sex. Williams writes in a brilliant, crisp prose. Gore Vidal's "Pages from an Abandoned Journal" tells the interesting story of a student in Europe in 1948 who hangs around gay men while believing he himself is not gay. The story jumps to 1953 when we find the same man fully embracing his gay identity. In short, each story is intriguing in its way and no story is a clunker. The collection is a very good tour through some major figures of twentieth-century literature: Proust, Stein, Lawrence, Tennessee Williams, Vidal, plus William Faulkner, E.M. Forster, Ernest Hemingway, William Carlos Williams, Jane Rule, Graham Greene, Christopher Isherwood, and more. The one complaint I have about the collection is that all the stories are rather depressing. Particularly in the latter half of the twentieth century, the stories tend to be about emotionally empty people who lead empty lives. Therefore, it is best to take this collection slowly, a story at a time.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Anthologies devoted to the black or Jewish experience are legion. THE OTHER PERSUASION is an anthology - among the first of its kind -which explores the world of the homosexual, the gay man and woman, in a predominantly heterosexual society. Through fiction by some of the great names of modern literature, this collection offers an insight into a minority which has only recently ceased to be virtually silent.

"From the secretive hot house atmosphere of the 1890's in Proust's 'Before Dark' to the tough new fiction of the 1970's, THE OTHER PERSUASION will divert - and probably surprise - the reader with the variety of attitudes and viewpoints within in the world of the homosexual." (From the back cover of the 1977 Picador paperback edition. The capitalisation of the book's title in the above is reproduced as in the original).

Before anything else I want to correct Goodreads - this anthology was not edited by Marcel Proust but by Seymour Kleinberg.

I reproduce the above not simply because there is no summary on Goodreads but because I was 19 years old when this anthology came out (though I didn't read it till decades later and only record the date of my most recent reading of this anthology) and it reminded of how even those who were your 'friends' (Picador was a publisher of avant garde literature and left wing wing writers) could make you squirm with embarrassment and feel like a new and exotic bit of foreign species being sympathetically examined but also humiliated, patronised and barely tolerated. Sometimes the contempt of enemies is easier to bear than the sympathy and understanding of friends. For many of us the world and the way it sees us has moved on to such an extent that it is easy to forget those early steps and how relatively recent those changes are.

I say this because some of the reviewers clearly don't understand that this is an anthology of writing about homosexuals not an anthology by homosexuals - in 1977 in the UK you had to be careful calling anyone homosexual, unless they were safely dead, least you be sued for libel - also to expect out and proud writing is just fatuous - learn some history.

But within the context of its time this was a timely and welcome acknowledgement of our existence and of our existence in the past and in the writings not just of people like Proust but of Faulkner and Hemingway, D.H. Lawrence, John O'Hara and William Carlos Williams. Fortunately we don't need anthologies like this anymore but they are valuable reminders of our roots and, like all anthologies of writers we should seek out from current obscurity.

[Vincent Konrad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know enough about the authors to know who is or isn’t gay etc, and I suppose some of it can be put down to the times, but there is an awful lot of paedophilia, rape, and incest that is implied (by the collection if not the individual author) to be somewhat inherent in homosexuality. Because they are collected under the theme, they are implied to represent such and how it was/is viewed. Whether the uncomfortable elements are intended to be a reflection of society’s thinking or innate to the character rather than homosexuality as a whole is unclear.

The criteria seems to be more ‘big name author; a gay in the story’ than any real curatorship. Perhaps the intent was to be objective? It relegates the collection to historical relevance rather than any particular literary merit.

Anyhow, some of the stories are good enough and it’s curious to see so much gender fluidity and what we would now recognise as expressions of trans-ness lumped into the broad ‘homosexual’ category.

There are a lot of stories about lesbianism, as well as male gays. The editor takes the time to define terms to some extent and sees ‘gay’ as gender neutral while ‘homosexual’ implies male. I’d imagine the connotations have switched since publication, though in my own circles ‘gay’ is used without gender. In any case it’s nice that he didn’t just focus on the men.

[Virgowriter (Brad Windhauser) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few strong stories but a bunch are either weak or just don’t hold up.

[Sharon Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of short stories on gay themes by some of the world's most famous writers, including Marcel Proust, Radclyffe Hall, William Faulkner, James Purdy, E. M. Forster, D. H. Lawrence, Gertrude Stein and Gore Vidal. The selection is arranged chronologically, which to some extent demonstrates the changing outlook towards gay life - both for gays and the rest of society. As it was published in the 1970s it stops short of today's greater openness and acceptance, but many stories - even the cliched ones centred on gay bar life or frustrated desire - could still have resonance today for gays growing up in small towns or rural societies, where attitudes are slow to change. The introduction by Seymour Kleinberg contains many helpful insights.

One further observation worth making: this collection contains stories written by and about women as well as men - and, arguably, stories from gay as well as straight writers.

By no means the only introductory collection to read, but still a very useful collection for students of gay literature and, due to the quality of the writing throughout, an enjoyable read anyway.

[Jack Betancourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read this many many years ago. A closeted friend who couldn't risk owning a copy (that's how long ago!) passed it off to me. It may come off as baffling and outdated and probably downright historical to others but there's a lot of excellent writing here. The stories are sad, dark, bittersweet, even ridiculous, but heartbreakingly personal. Strongly recommend.