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Queer: A Collection of LGBTQ Writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday
LGBTQ writing from ancient times to yesterday selected by award-winning translator Frank Wynne.
Drawing together writing from Catullus to Sappho, from Rimbaud to Anaïs Nin, and from Armistead Maupin to Alison Bechdel, translator Frank Wynne has collected a hundred of the finest works representing queer love by LGBTQ authors.
Queer straddles the spectrum of queer experience, from Verlaine's sonnet in praise of his lover's anus and Emily Dickinson's exhortation of a woman's beauty, to Alison Bechdel's graphic novel of her coming out, Juno Dawson's reflections on gender and Oscar Wilde's 'De Profundis'.
With stories, poems, extracts and scenes from countries the world over, Queer is an unabashed and unapologetic anthology, which gives voice to those often silenced.
Drawing together writing from Catullus to Sappho, from Rimbaud to Anaïs Nin, and from Armistead Maupin to Alison Bechdel, translator Frank Wynne has collected a hundred of the finest works representing queer love by LGBTQ authors.
Queer straddles the spectrum of queer experience, from Verlaine's sonnet in praise of his lover's anus and Emily Dickinson's exhortation of a woman's beauty, to Alison Bechdel's graphic novel of her coming out, Juno Dawson's reflections on gender and Oscar Wilde's 'De Profundis'.
With stories, poems, extracts and scenes from countries the world over, Queer is an unabashed and unapologetic anthology, which gives voice to those often silenced.
620 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 21, 2021
94 people are currently reading
1656 people want to read
About the author
Frank Wynne
143 books45 followersFrank Wynne is an Irish literary translator and writer. Born in Co. Sligo, Ireland, he worked as a comics editor at Fleetway and later at comic magazine Deadline. He worked for a time at AOL before becoming a literary translator.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 18, 2021
One star off for the unforgivable omission of not including anything by Samuel R. Delany.
I am generally not a fan of collections like this, but Frank Wynne’s eclectic choices has introduced me to a lot of writers I have been unaware of up to this point. It is always a good thing to expand one’s literary horizons, especially of foreign or translated writers, and Wynne succeeds admirably in this regard.
I suspect that some choices were more for their shock or titillation value than anything else, like ‘Sonnet to the Arsehole’ by Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud, the latter’s own ‘Our Arses Are Not Theirs’, and the usual suspects like William Burroughs, Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg (‘Please Master’).
Good to see South African writer Damon Galgut get a shout-out. Other selections, like an extract from the ‘Book of Samuel’, are a bit more borderline. Surely the Bible cannot be the only religious text with hints of homoeroticism in it?
Also, this is not a book to read cover-to-cover, but rather to dip into like a treasure chest. Admittedly, some of the jewels on display here are a bit dustier than others, but this is more than made up for by the effulgence of the whole.
I am generally not a fan of collections like this, but Frank Wynne’s eclectic choices has introduced me to a lot of writers I have been unaware of up to this point. It is always a good thing to expand one’s literary horizons, especially of foreign or translated writers, and Wynne succeeds admirably in this regard.
I suspect that some choices were more for their shock or titillation value than anything else, like ‘Sonnet to the Arsehole’ by Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud, the latter’s own ‘Our Arses Are Not Theirs’, and the usual suspects like William Burroughs, Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg (‘Please Master’).
Good to see South African writer Damon Galgut get a shout-out. Other selections, like an extract from the ‘Book of Samuel’, are a bit more borderline. Surely the Bible cannot be the only religious text with hints of homoeroticism in it?
Also, this is not a book to read cover-to-cover, but rather to dip into like a treasure chest. Admittedly, some of the jewels on display here are a bit dustier than others, but this is more than made up for by the effulgence of the whole.
February 7, 2021
Queer is an anthology of, as its subtitle states, 'LGBTQ writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday', with a range of poetry and prose starting with Homer and Sappho and ending with current writers. Frank Wynne has collected together works from authors with various experiences and identities, originally written in different languages, and these are complete or in extract, with short biographical notes about the author before each one. In the introduction Wynne gives the criteria for inclusion: the authors had to be LGBTQ and the texts had to be addressing gender and/or sexuality in some way.
The anthology is an impressive endeavour, particularly in the range of (mostly post-20th century) translated texts alongside those written in English. As Wynne discusses in the introduction, there's no way of being definitive, but the range given by the translations was refreshing. The book starts with a lot of familiar touchstones (Homer on Achilles, Sappho, David and Jonathan, Shakespeare's sonnets, Anne Lister's diaries), which are useful for people exploring LGBTQ literature from a more introductory viewpoint but not so exciting otherwise, so it was good that it quickly moved into a more diverse range of writers. It was a chance to read some writers I'd heard of but not read, and discover others for the first time.
My main issue with the anthology is the context given for the authors and their works. I found the biographical notes gave some useful details, but there was no context given for the piece(s) in the book. The contents notes when the given text is 'from' a larger work, but the section for the author does even use the word 'from', never mind giving context about what is happening in the wider work or how the poems or short story might fit into the author's writing more generally. For example, I went into reading the Radclyffe Hall story assuming it was an excerpt from The Well of Loneliness (which I've read) as that was the only text mentioned in the biographical note, but then realised it wasn't. Maybe some people prefer texts out of context, but personally, I needed to know if I was reading a short story or an except from when I started reading, to know if I needed to 'catch up' or not.
One thing I would've liked (other than more context) would've been some excerpts from plays; Wynne states in the introduction that these aren't included because they're meant to be spoken (as song lyrics aren't because they should be sung), but I think that reading plays can be very important, especially for getting to experience the works of LGBTQ writers regardless of your circumstances for getting to the theatre. However, the anthology already has a lot in it, so I suppose space was an issue as well.
This collection is a really useful way to experience a lot of LGBTQ writing at once, and it's nice to have a range of more recent writers in there. It's particularly useful for discovering new writers and I can see how it would be good to flick through, see what you felt like reading, and then go away to discover more of that writer's work. As someone who doesn't often feel like reading short stories I enjoyed the chance to read some by authors I've read novels by, and to discover some new poets as well, though the earlier (mostly pre-20th century) part is perhaps more useful to people who've not already tried to read as much of the classic literature that isn't so straight and cis already.
The anthology is an impressive endeavour, particularly in the range of (mostly post-20th century) translated texts alongside those written in English. As Wynne discusses in the introduction, there's no way of being definitive, but the range given by the translations was refreshing. The book starts with a lot of familiar touchstones (Homer on Achilles, Sappho, David and Jonathan, Shakespeare's sonnets, Anne Lister's diaries), which are useful for people exploring LGBTQ literature from a more introductory viewpoint but not so exciting otherwise, so it was good that it quickly moved into a more diverse range of writers. It was a chance to read some writers I'd heard of but not read, and discover others for the first time.
My main issue with the anthology is the context given for the authors and their works. I found the biographical notes gave some useful details, but there was no context given for the piece(s) in the book. The contents notes when the given text is 'from' a larger work, but the section for the author does even use the word 'from', never mind giving context about what is happening in the wider work or how the poems or short story might fit into the author's writing more generally. For example, I went into reading the Radclyffe Hall story assuming it was an excerpt from The Well of Loneliness (which I've read) as that was the only text mentioned in the biographical note, but then realised it wasn't. Maybe some people prefer texts out of context, but personally, I needed to know if I was reading a short story or an except from when I started reading, to know if I needed to 'catch up' or not.
One thing I would've liked (other than more context) would've been some excerpts from plays; Wynne states in the introduction that these aren't included because they're meant to be spoken (as song lyrics aren't because they should be sung), but I think that reading plays can be very important, especially for getting to experience the works of LGBTQ writers regardless of your circumstances for getting to the theatre. However, the anthology already has a lot in it, so I suppose space was an issue as well.
This collection is a really useful way to experience a lot of LGBTQ writing at once, and it's nice to have a range of more recent writers in there. It's particularly useful for discovering new writers and I can see how it would be good to flick through, see what you felt like reading, and then go away to discover more of that writer's work. As someone who doesn't often feel like reading short stories I enjoyed the chance to read some by authors I've read novels by, and to discover some new poets as well, though the earlier (mostly pre-20th century) part is perhaps more useful to people who've not already tried to read as much of the classic literature that isn't so straight and cis already.
June 9, 2021
The only reason this book isn't five stars is because the ratio between old to new texts was like 1:3. Other than that, this was a comforting experience that helped me through quarantine and pride month and truly helped me appreciate the gay journey. :)) This isn't a read it the whole way through anthology, it's a pick it up read a poem/ extract and then put it down again kind of book
January 23, 2025
My rating has nothing to do with any of the authors or writings in the anthology and everything to do with the failures of the anthology as 'A Collection of LGBTQ Writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday' which immediately rings alarm bells because neither the excepts from Homer, the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament, Sappho or Catullus can rightly be termed 'Gay' - because being 'gay' only exists in opposition to being 'straight' and thinking like that doesn't make any sense until Christian morality started defining various sexual acts as 'moral/unmoral' or sinfully' and wrong. There had been sexual taboos of course but the idea that certain sexual acts would condemn you too everlasting hell is a Christian idea. Eventually of course science/medicine examined sexual acts and moved away from religious prohibitions and created the idea of 'normal' and 'abnormal' acts/behavior/ways of life/people etc. To start using terms like 'bi' as a translator of Catullus's poems does is not simply nonsensical, it is dishonest because it is foisting ways of thinking that didn't exist. I object to the inclusion of Achilles lament over Patroclus even more; not because I am denying that they might have been lovers, the ancients had no problem with that but they had problems deciding who was the lover and who was the beloved. As a demi-god and hero on one level Achilles had to be the beloved because he was the most beautiful, most perfect of beings, it would make no sense to view him as being 'enslaved' by love for a mere mortal but, how could a demi-god and hero submit to being the one loved by a mere mortal? Would that place him in a submissive position? (If none of this makes any sense or even worse if you imagine any of it has to do with a question of tops and bottoms then you need to read something about the culture of ancient Greece). Committing a sexual act with someone of your own sex was not a problem for the ancient Greek or Romans or for most cultures before contact with Christianity. That didn't mean you could go around bonking anyone one you wanted at any time. Sex in all cultures was ringed round with various superstitions and who with or when you could have sex depended an awful lot on age, income, social position, etc. and most of what you will read about Greek or Roman 'Homosexuality' and about what could or could not be done was not guidance for every man or male child, let alone every female, but was about the specifics of how a young and older men of the incredible tiny ruling elite should behave so as not to sacrifice or bring their elite status group into disrepute.
What is really disappointing in the first quarter of the 21st century is that an anthology of this sort should be so remarkably similar (except for the inclusion of more writing on, by or about trans people) to anthologies published in the past. Most of the authors represented here can be found in series such as Men on Men, Fresh Men, His and Hers 1,2,3 and many single volume anthologies published between the late 1980s and early 2000s. It is also should have settled for being an English language anthology because its representation of foreign gay writing barely deserves the title 'tokenism'. Latin America below the Rio Grande is represented by Reinaldo Arenas, France by Herve Guibert and Italy by Pier Paolo Pasolini and the rest of Europe not at all. Amazingly gay writing from the USA is even more poorly represented and none of the vibrant gay voices from Black, Latino, or Native American cultures within the USA are represented but Armistead Maupin is there with a piece from one of his more mediocre later novels 'Michael Tolliver Lives' and space was found for a story by Lawrence Schimel! presumably because it involves 'Bears' (it also takes place in Spain so maybe it was felt to represent that country or maybe even all Spanish speaking countries as well).
So why are certain writers and stories included and others not? In the introduction the editor suggests that it is a look back, fifty years from Stonewall, on how things have changed which is an explanation but not a good one. Stonewall has become the iconic moment for many Americans and British people but I doubt that it makes sense for any culture or country were homosexuality was not illegal - which includes anywhere that has a legal system with a Francophone/Napoleonic (which means most of Latin America below the Rio Grande, those parts of Africa and Asia not part of the British Empire, large parts of Continental Europe and Turkey for example) - it doesn't mean there was not a battle for acceptance but it was not the fight for 'legal' changes that concerned campaigners in the USA. The fact that the anthology is so Anglo centric is very disappointing as is the way that 'gays' still try and view themselves from the position of a persecution that prevailed previously. There is plenty of persecution of gays in many parts of the world but there is nothing about how the changed position of gays in 'Western' cultures, the assimilation of gays into simply another part of the consumerist juggernaut that launches young people from school to jobs, to marriage to children to buying houses in the suburbs and gathering things on credit is one of the most far reaching, and for me depressing, changes that I have lived through. Nor is there any real presentation of the way life for young gay people has changed. In London every gay pub or meeting place that I knew in the 20th or very early 21st centuries have disappeared. Even Soho and Old Compton Street's incarnation as London's Greenwich Village and Christopher Street has vanished.
How young gays meet, learn about being gay, as well as find sexual partners has changed but not the threat, at least four young gay men were killed in a small area of London by a serial killer and the police ignored it because of institutional homophobia. I don't think everything is rosy, but it is different and being gay doesn't mean getting a boyfriend, children and mortgage. There are many challenges and stories out there but you would never know that in the UK there is a rich vein of working class and regional gay life and writing. Hollinghurst, Bartlett and Gale are wonderful authors but they have long ceased writing about what it means too be gay now - their books are invariably historical fictions based in a past they knew but which is as distant from those four dead gay young men using grinder to meet their killer in London parks and cemeteries as the worlds of Dickens or Austen.
I would also suggest that future anthologists make clear what the criteria is for inclusion - is it literary or is their a check list of various types of 'lifestyles' or 'types' that they want to include. Also if foreign writers are to be included in translation then full information should be given on any other works available in English. All excepts should be clearly identified so we know which work excerpts come from. This anthology is a huge disappointment for its really staggering mediocrity and for the lost opportunity. I really expected better from someone like Frank Wynne.
What is really disappointing in the first quarter of the 21st century is that an anthology of this sort should be so remarkably similar (except for the inclusion of more writing on, by or about trans people) to anthologies published in the past. Most of the authors represented here can be found in series such as Men on Men, Fresh Men, His and Hers 1,2,3 and many single volume anthologies published between the late 1980s and early 2000s. It is also should have settled for being an English language anthology because its representation of foreign gay writing barely deserves the title 'tokenism'. Latin America below the Rio Grande is represented by Reinaldo Arenas, France by Herve Guibert and Italy by Pier Paolo Pasolini and the rest of Europe not at all. Amazingly gay writing from the USA is even more poorly represented and none of the vibrant gay voices from Black, Latino, or Native American cultures within the USA are represented but Armistead Maupin is there with a piece from one of his more mediocre later novels 'Michael Tolliver Lives' and space was found for a story by Lawrence Schimel! presumably because it involves 'Bears' (it also takes place in Spain so maybe it was felt to represent that country or maybe even all Spanish speaking countries as well).
So why are certain writers and stories included and others not? In the introduction the editor suggests that it is a look back, fifty years from Stonewall, on how things have changed which is an explanation but not a good one. Stonewall has become the iconic moment for many Americans and British people but I doubt that it makes sense for any culture or country were homosexuality was not illegal - which includes anywhere that has a legal system with a Francophone/Napoleonic (which means most of Latin America below the Rio Grande, those parts of Africa and Asia not part of the British Empire, large parts of Continental Europe and Turkey for example) - it doesn't mean there was not a battle for acceptance but it was not the fight for 'legal' changes that concerned campaigners in the USA. The fact that the anthology is so Anglo centric is very disappointing as is the way that 'gays' still try and view themselves from the position of a persecution that prevailed previously. There is plenty of persecution of gays in many parts of the world but there is nothing about how the changed position of gays in 'Western' cultures, the assimilation of gays into simply another part of the consumerist juggernaut that launches young people from school to jobs, to marriage to children to buying houses in the suburbs and gathering things on credit is one of the most far reaching, and for me depressing, changes that I have lived through. Nor is there any real presentation of the way life for young gay people has changed. In London every gay pub or meeting place that I knew in the 20th or very early 21st centuries have disappeared. Even Soho and Old Compton Street's incarnation as London's Greenwich Village and Christopher Street has vanished.
How young gays meet, learn about being gay, as well as find sexual partners has changed but not the threat, at least four young gay men were killed in a small area of London by a serial killer and the police ignored it because of institutional homophobia. I don't think everything is rosy, but it is different and being gay doesn't mean getting a boyfriend, children and mortgage. There are many challenges and stories out there but you would never know that in the UK there is a rich vein of working class and regional gay life and writing. Hollinghurst, Bartlett and Gale are wonderful authors but they have long ceased writing about what it means too be gay now - their books are invariably historical fictions based in a past they knew but which is as distant from those four dead gay young men using grinder to meet their killer in London parks and cemeteries as the worlds of Dickens or Austen.
I would also suggest that future anthologists make clear what the criteria is for inclusion - is it literary or is their a check list of various types of 'lifestyles' or 'types' that they want to include. Also if foreign writers are to be included in translation then full information should be given on any other works available in English. All excepts should be clearly identified so we know which work excerpts come from. This anthology is a huge disappointment for its really staggering mediocrity and for the lost opportunity. I really expected better from someone like Frank Wynne.
September 8, 2024
I first saw this book when I was in Belfast last Summer at Waterstones - it's beautiful and it caught my eye!!!! But it was too big to get then, so I ordered it later and this book was such a great experience!!!
This is a queer anthology, that starts with Homer and goes to the present days, and it covers the entire globe, with writings in prose, poetry, essay format and even in a graphic novel design!!! This is a great way to encounter different texts and life stories, and while I loved the entire experience over the last few months, the most exciting part were the actual texts I loved - around a quarter - which means I have a new list of authors to read more from!!!
Definitely both a beautiful coffee table book and an incredible way to get to know queer texts from all over the world and time!!!
This is a queer anthology, that starts with Homer and goes to the present days, and it covers the entire globe, with writings in prose, poetry, essay format and even in a graphic novel design!!! This is a great way to encounter different texts and life stories, and while I loved the entire experience over the last few months, the most exciting part were the actual texts I loved - around a quarter - which means I have a new list of authors to read more from!!!
Definitely both a beautiful coffee table book and an incredible way to get to know queer texts from all over the world and time!!!
October 17, 2025
An interesting anthology of queer stories and writing; most of the authors I hadn't heard of before and represented a range of queer and national identities. I do wish there had been a bit of editor's commentary or something more than the short blurb at the start of each excerpt because it wasn't always clear how some works tied into queerness. it would have been nice to unpack this more, maybe recommend other weeks by the authors, and to learn more meaningful info about them.
February 4, 2023
Beautiful compilation, good mixture of poetry, short stories and texts.
July 28, 2021
I read quite a lot of LGBTQ literature but to be honest it mainly comes from a need to educate. I tend to stick to YA books because I want my students to have an outlet that wasn’t necessarily there when I was a student. I picked up Queer because I wanted to make a more informed and mature choice when it came to my reading choices.
What is brilliant about Queer is that it gives you snippets of stories and then you have the option to follow it up with further reading. I did this and bought other books by the contributors. I especially liked the chronology of the book. It showed that LGBTQ isn’t new. Its not something that has only been around for a short amount of time. As long as there have been people there has been LGBTQ people. I think that will be a comfort to the readers of this book.
Queer is a fantastic collection and I hope that it is only the start and that further collections will be collated in the future.
What is brilliant about Queer is that it gives you snippets of stories and then you have the option to follow it up with further reading. I did this and bought other books by the contributors. I especially liked the chronology of the book. It showed that LGBTQ isn’t new. Its not something that has only been around for a short amount of time. As long as there have been people there has been LGBTQ people. I think that will be a comfort to the readers of this book.
Queer is a fantastic collection and I hope that it is only the start and that further collections will be collated in the future.
Read
May 4, 2021An anthology of texts by queer authors from different times and different cultures. While with an English language collection there will always be an emphasis of texts from English-speaking countries, there are actually quite a lot of translated texts especially from non-Western countries, which I appreciated. You also have all the letters of the acronym represented, and not in the usual “gay with a few Ls and fewer Ts” kind of way. I love that such an anthology exists; everything that asserts that we have always been there and exist in oh so many ways is a good thing.
May 9, 2021
Fabulous collection of queer writings ranging from the expected to the completely unexpected. Realism blended with surrealism and everything in between.
September 30, 2021
I rarely read anthologies like these from cover to cover, so I haven't for this one but I've read enough to give a review I think. This is a really fantastic collection of queer writing- the only reason it doesn't have 5 stars is because I'm a classicist and I don't like some of the translations Wynne has used for ancient extracts (pedantic, but there are better ones out there).
March 5, 2023
Triste porque non sale a portada da edición que teño eu. Recopilación moi moi cuqui, de xente de todo o mundo e de todas as letras. Non me extrañou que houbese máis de homes gays que de calquer outro colectivo, pero aínda así moloume.
November 3, 2023
From the subheading, I had expected there to be a lot more historic examples than there actually are, but the flipside of this is that there is a very heavy focus on modern/contemporary writings which introduced me to a lot of new authors, so swings and roundabouts!
July 12, 2022
Didn't love it all but some great stories, poems and excerpts. Recommend
November 25, 2024
Not enough lesbians
June 14, 2021
Queers are not new, people are not coming out just because it's a trend, we've always been here, never erased. This was an amazing anthology of queer texts, letters, poems, snippets from many centuries, till now. It was so surprising to see it, as if we were always here, fighting and existing.
From William Shakespeare's : "When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state." to
Sappho whose lyrics would have originally been sung in public, but they would privately inspire countless future poets.
An amazing anthology which will not only entertain you but also educate you of queerness from all over the centuries, telling you we've never been alone, we're not new. We were here since always and we will be.
From William Shakespeare's : "When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state." to
Sappho whose lyrics would have originally been sung in public, but they would privately inspire countless future poets.
An amazing anthology which will not only entertain you but also educate you of queerness from all over the centuries, telling you we've never been alone, we're not new. We were here since always and we will be.
February 11, 2021
This is an interesting collection of writing from LGBTQ authors of various backgrounds from throughout history and is something you can easily dip in and out of.
It is an excellent starting place for people who want to read more from Queer people and I particularly enjoyed those translated texts from authors that I have not come across before.
Thank you to Head of Zeus and Netgalley who gave me an eARC edition of this book in return for a fair review
It is an excellent starting place for people who want to read more from Queer people and I particularly enjoyed those translated texts from authors that I have not come across before.
Thank you to Head of Zeus and Netgalley who gave me an eARC edition of this book in return for a fair review
July 29, 2025
TW for homophobia, transphobia, sexual assault and pedophilia in this collection.
I first saw this book in the Queer Britain and thought, "Wouldn't it be grand to have a collection of LGBT+ stories and essays in my shelf?" I had wanted to get into LGBT+ literature anyway. Then, on my last week in London, on a trip to FOYLES, I saw this book in their LGBT+ section (something that could never be found in my home country) and immediately adopted it. It was the last of its kind in the bookstore, and it had a stain on its side, but it was a miracle I bumped into it again.
I actually did read this book cover to cover (save for the acknowledgments) and was fascinated by the way people phrased and styled their experiences and observations over the decades, from different communities, cultures, languages and countries. Each piece of writing does vary in length and drama so there is something for every occasion. You will definitely find something you relate to in this anthology. I appreciate that there is a good portion of non-American and non-white authors included, both from past and relatively modern times.
I do wish there was more context to each of the pieces of writing in this book, rather than simply stating where each of them are from in the acknowledgments.
Some writings that stood out to me:
> Three poems by Sappho (of course!)
>Look Not In My Eyes by A.E. Houseman
>Miss Oglivy Finds Herself by Renée Vivien
>Everything Contains You by Karin Boye
>Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
>Coming Out Story (a comic!) by Alison Bechdel
>Shadows by Damon Galgut
>The Truth About Me by A.Revathi
>Letter from a Trans Man to the Sexual Ancien Régime by Paul B. Preciado (this gave me a lot to think about!)
>The Wounded Man by Abdellah Taïa
>Underskirts by Kirsty Logan (this was unexpectedly spicy!!!)
and my favourite: Air by Tomoyuki Hoshino. This story has a fair bit of self-harm. I could not stop thinking about this story. You have to read it yourself! I can't bring myself to describe how it makes me feel. It's weird, that's for sure, but if you get it (gender tingz), then you GET IT.
In short, this is a good collection of LGBT+ writing for anybody's bookshelf. Some stories have questionable content (pedophilia? or am I reading into things poorly?) but most of them are good and gritty.
I first saw this book in the Queer Britain and thought, "Wouldn't it be grand to have a collection of LGBT+ stories and essays in my shelf?" I had wanted to get into LGBT+ literature anyway. Then, on my last week in London, on a trip to FOYLES, I saw this book in their LGBT+ section (something that could never be found in my home country) and immediately adopted it. It was the last of its kind in the bookstore, and it had a stain on its side, but it was a miracle I bumped into it again.
I actually did read this book cover to cover (save for the acknowledgments) and was fascinated by the way people phrased and styled their experiences and observations over the decades, from different communities, cultures, languages and countries. Each piece of writing does vary in length and drama so there is something for every occasion. You will definitely find something you relate to in this anthology. I appreciate that there is a good portion of non-American and non-white authors included, both from past and relatively modern times.
I do wish there was more context to each of the pieces of writing in this book, rather than simply stating where each of them are from in the acknowledgments.
Some writings that stood out to me:
> Three poems by Sappho (of course!)
>Look Not In My Eyes by A.E. Houseman
>Miss Oglivy Finds Herself by Renée Vivien
>Everything Contains You by Karin Boye
>Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
>Coming Out Story (a comic!) by Alison Bechdel
>Shadows by Damon Galgut
>The Truth About Me by A.Revathi
>Letter from a Trans Man to the Sexual Ancien Régime by Paul B. Preciado (this gave me a lot to think about!)
>The Wounded Man by Abdellah Taïa
>Underskirts by Kirsty Logan (this was unexpectedly spicy!!!)
and my favourite: Air by Tomoyuki Hoshino. This story has a fair bit of self-harm. I could not stop thinking about this story. You have to read it yourself! I can't bring myself to describe how it makes me feel. It's weird, that's for sure, but if you get it (gender tingz), then you GET IT.
In short, this is a good collection of LGBT+ writing for anybody's bookshelf. Some stories have questionable content (pedophilia? or am I reading into things poorly?) but most of them are good and gritty.
April 21, 2024
finally finished this one!! very mixed feelings - i don't regret reading it, but i wish i'd enjoyed it more
3.5?? i enjoyed the individual works in this a lot less than expected, but i enjoyed the overall anthology more than i expected if that makes sense. perhaps because i read this over the month where i started developing a much greater appreciation for anthologies (and poetry - thank you to pier paolo pasolini's the cry of the excavator). this one in particular encouraged me to slow down my reading, savour pieces of work, re-read and look up the meanings of texts (mostly the early poems etc) i didn't understand. it exposed me to so many works that i would never read otherwise, so many authors i'd never heard of.
on the other hand there was only a few pieces by authors i'd heard of which surprised me given how much queer works i read - but i guess what i read isn't really similar to what's in this book... but i also am surprised by how much this book didn't include - there was no science fiction/fantasy, young adult works etc... it was mostly adult/literary fiction (but not the type that i read) and memoirs
i do wish we were given some context of the works at the start of each piece
my favourite pieces (5 stars):
- carson mccullers - like that
- pier paolo pasolini - the cry of the excavator
- rita mae brown - rubyfruit jungle
- neil bartlett - words
some other pieces i enjoyed (3-4 stars):
- radclyffe hall - miss oglivy fnds herself
- patricia highsmith - carol
- roz kaveney - three poems
- murathan mungan - love's tears
- alison bechdel - coming out story
- patrick gale - brown manilla
- a. revathi - the truth about me
- hilda viloria - born both : going public
- juno dawson - the gender games: the penny drops
- alma mathijsen - forget the girls
a funny note i wrote down towards the start:
3.5?? i enjoyed the individual works in this a lot less than expected, but i enjoyed the overall anthology more than i expected if that makes sense. perhaps because i read this over the month where i started developing a much greater appreciation for anthologies (and poetry - thank you to pier paolo pasolini's the cry of the excavator). this one in particular encouraged me to slow down my reading, savour pieces of work, re-read and look up the meanings of texts (mostly the early poems etc) i didn't understand. it exposed me to so many works that i would never read otherwise, so many authors i'd never heard of.
on the other hand there was only a few pieces by authors i'd heard of which surprised me given how much queer works i read - but i guess what i read isn't really similar to what's in this book... but i also am surprised by how much this book didn't include - there was no science fiction/fantasy, young adult works etc... it was mostly adult/literary fiction (but not the type that i read) and memoirs
i do wish we were given some context of the works at the start of each piece
my favourite pieces (5 stars):
- carson mccullers - like that
- pier paolo pasolini - the cry of the excavator
- rita mae brown - rubyfruit jungle
- neil bartlett - words
some other pieces i enjoyed (3-4 stars):
- radclyffe hall - miss oglivy fnds herself
- patricia highsmith - carol
- roz kaveney - three poems
- murathan mungan - love's tears
- alison bechdel - coming out story
- patrick gale - brown manilla
- a. revathi - the truth about me
- hilda viloria - born both : going public
- juno dawson - the gender games: the penny drops
- alma mathijsen - forget the girls
a funny note i wrote down towards the start:
reading all this old stuff is so humbling bc i am having to look up what every single page means lmao... except for catullus where it is v obvious (84-54BC: "your prick though, wanders. into cute behinds, often as not. i know you say you're bi... there's gossip going around that you suck lots of dicks. and don't wipe clean" so wild that people so long ago were as petty/bitchy as we are now <3)
February 18, 2022
I found this book quite disappointing for several reasons.
Firstly it should be remained "sexual LGBTQ+ writings" because the book is overwhelmingly sexual. After reading several chapter I began to think the author missing the plus sign out of the acronym was a purposeful choice instead of ignorance, in order to express how asexuality and aromanticism are not a part of this book at all. Almost every chapter written by a man features an erect penis, sometimes within the first 3 sentences which just wasn't the kind of literature I was looking for and several others are just a little disturbing, with sexual acts on a barbie or very big and problematic age differences which brings me onto my second criticism. As so many of these writings are from a long time ago they're very problematic, the casual sexism, racism and homophobic language used is not the kind of queer writing I was hoping for. Thirdly I found the majority of stories difficult to get into and only the horror-themed one really interested me. The others I found boring or incredibly disjointed.
Overall i would not recommend this book and will not be reading it again, if you feel relief when you finish a book that is never a good sign and I actually smiled when I reached the last page which speaks for itself.
Firstly it should be remained "sexual LGBTQ+ writings" because the book is overwhelmingly sexual. After reading several chapter I began to think the author missing the plus sign out of the acronym was a purposeful choice instead of ignorance, in order to express how asexuality and aromanticism are not a part of this book at all. Almost every chapter written by a man features an erect penis, sometimes within the first 3 sentences which just wasn't the kind of literature I was looking for and several others are just a little disturbing, with sexual acts on a barbie or very big and problematic age differences which brings me onto my second criticism. As so many of these writings are from a long time ago they're very problematic, the casual sexism, racism and homophobic language used is not the kind of queer writing I was hoping for. Thirdly I found the majority of stories difficult to get into and only the horror-themed one really interested me. The others I found boring or incredibly disjointed.
Overall i would not recommend this book and will not be reading it again, if you feel relief when you finish a book that is never a good sign and I actually smiled when I reached the last page which speaks for itself.
September 24, 2025
I love an anthology, and Queer is an excellent collection of LGBTQ writings from history - ancient and modern. As with any anthology, not every entry included was my "vibe" however I discovered many that were, and some that I've gone and added more from those authors or poets to my to read pile. A few lines and stories are stuck in my head, and on replay where I think they will stay for a while.
Its important, I think, in todays political climate for books like this to exist. To showcase that we have always existed, the queers. Whether is sexual orientation or gender its always had fluidity to it, and its always been a spectrum. From Homer and Sapho, through to the modern day Greenland we exist. We love. We write. We create art. We have friends, lovers, family, enemies. But we exist and always have. This book celebrates that, showcases it, and bundles the history up through the art of written word for anyone in the LGBTQIA+ community to feel less alone. My only note is the lack of asexual representation in the collection.
I really enjoyed dipping in and out of this over the past few weeks, I borrowed it as an ebook from the library but I'll be sourcing a physical copy for my personal library.
Its important, I think, in todays political climate for books like this to exist. To showcase that we have always existed, the queers. Whether is sexual orientation or gender its always had fluidity to it, and its always been a spectrum. From Homer and Sapho, through to the modern day Greenland we exist. We love. We write. We create art. We have friends, lovers, family, enemies. But we exist and always have. This book celebrates that, showcases it, and bundles the history up through the art of written word for anyone in the LGBTQIA+ community to feel less alone. My only note is the lack of asexual representation in the collection.
I really enjoyed dipping in and out of this over the past few weeks, I borrowed it as an ebook from the library but I'll be sourcing a physical copy for my personal library.
October 22, 2025
This is a great collection of very varied writing by very varied authors from different times in history, who represent a wide range of ways of being queer. I would have liked a few more historical pieces. The majority are recent and contemporary authors. It was good to be introduced to new authors, though.
Some of the works didn’t do much for me, as usual with me most of these were poetry, but one story which was otherwise beautiful (The Chair) was also incestuous and paedophilic, which I could have done without.
I enjoyed reading authors I had heard of but not read as well as new pieces by writers I’m already familiar with, and authors I didn’t know. Also, my copy is a beautiful book which it is lovely to own.
Some of the works didn’t do much for me, as usual with me most of these were poetry, but one story which was otherwise beautiful (The Chair) was also incestuous and paedophilic, which I could have done without.
I enjoyed reading authors I had heard of but not read as well as new pieces by writers I’m already familiar with, and authors I didn’t know. Also, my copy is a beautiful book which it is lovely to own.
August 12, 2024
One of the most phenomenal collections I have been able to read. Randomly came across this book while on vacation and had to bring it home. I read this cover to cover and found every single piece to be thought provoking, even if not my favorite. My copy has become heavily annotated, and occupied a proud spot on my shelf. I don't know if there is any other collection like this that exists, the breadth of work is incredible and spans across centuries and around the globe. Have found a multitude of new books from this as well. Highly recommend giving it a read or a browse!
July 13, 2021
I am so impressed with this collection! There's a little bit of everything, essays, short stories, poetry, novel excerpts, diary entries, etc. etc. I have found so many writers I'd love to read more from, which is honestly the only thing I look for when reading an anthology.
Also,,, if anyone knows if Frank Wynne has ever published a list of books that he owns/his favourite books that he's read, posted pictures of his bookshelves or something,,, tell me pls. It's for science.
Also,,, if anyone knows if Frank Wynne has ever published a list of books that he owns/his favourite books that he's read, posted pictures of his bookshelves or something,,, tell me pls. It's for science.
April 21, 2025
The collection of LGBTQ Writing that Frank Wynne collected, is a great introduction to several queer authors from past and presents. The book consists of short stories, exerpts and poems. I enjoyed some more than others, and have added quite a few authors to my to read pile.
It was quite the enjoyable read.
It was quite the enjoyable read.
January 22, 2023
WHAT I LIKED:
- Wide variety of content
- Forwards about the authors' lives for each passage
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER:
- The vast majority of the content was from the 20th century and beyond. Would have loved more old entries.
- Relevant insights on the passages - reception, historical context, reflections on the work
- Wide variety of content
- Forwards about the authors' lives for each passage
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER:
- The vast majority of the content was from the 20th century and beyond. Would have loved more old entries.
- Relevant insights on the passages - reception, historical context, reflections on the work
June 13, 2024
A mostly solid collection somewhat marred by the fact that, barring one very obvious and borderline sycophantic example, each introduction seems to have been written by a different underpaid freelancer
July 28, 2024
Des de Safo, a les meves lebianes preferides de l'edat mitjana i victoriana, als escrits traumatitzants però necessàris de Paul B. Preciado i altris artistis trans* i no binariïs. Una antologia poc convencional.
did-not-finish
April 17, 2021not what i expected out of this & lost interest so dnf
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