The Gay Canon: Great Books Every Gay Man Should Read [Paperback]

Robert Drake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 1998

There are countless works of interest to gay men in print right now--anthologies, novels, memoirs, and more. It is a reflection of progress that there is such an openly recognizable culture. Yet how to make sense of the choices offered? What do gay men need to read? What books have shaped the gay heart, mind, and soul?

The Gay Canon gives its readers answers to these questions. Not only does it list the one hundred great gay books that have influenced writers and continue to shape the gay imagination, it also provides a deeper, more comprehensive look at the twenty-six most seminal works, each of which is followed by a series of useful group discussion questions. Reaching all the way back to Gilgamesh and continuing through classics like Leaves of Grass, Confessions of a Mask, and The Wild Boys, as well as more recent books like Borrowed Time, The Gay Canon consistently avoids impenetrable academic literary criticism in favor of a more popular introduction for general readers and book groups.

The Gay Canon is a book to give to any young man just coming out, a book every gay reading group will want to rely on, and--most important--a book that will enrich and improve the gay story that continues to be written.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Any attempt to identify the canonical or authoritative texts of any culture, let alone one as diverse as gay culture, is going to be fraught with peril, but Robert Drake makes a valiant effort here, operating on the assumption that "a gay book is a book that addresses issues of same-sex love, or a book written by an author who enjoys his same gender for sexual fulfillment and/or relief." (Of course, buried in that statement is an implicit assumption that we are, for the time being, only considering "same-sex love" between men; the formation of the lesbian canon is a task Drake leaves to others.) With position in the canon determined either by content or authorial orientation, but not necessarily both, some interesting choices wind up on the roster. You expected E.M. Forster, Marcel Proust, and Tony Kushner, no doubt, but what about Henry David Thoreau and Anne Rice? Twenty-three books are explored in particular depth, with the aim of providing a syllabus to be pursued alone or in a book group. Chances are you probably won't agree with everything Drake has to say about gay literature, but there's no doubt The Gay Canon will provoke and stimulate you. --Ron Hogan

From Library Journal

The word canon is used by academics as a way of cordoning off the corpus of literature that holds primacy in the attention of the dominant culture. The literature of minorities is usually excluded, but many groups form a canon of their own. Byrne Fone's The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature: Readings from Western Antiquity to the Present Day (LJ 5/15/98) is a massive and thoughtful selection, while Gregory Woods's A History of Gay Literature: The Male Tradition (LJ 4/1/98) is a brilliant exposition of the great issues informing the gay canon. Drake, editor of the ongoing series His: Brilliant New Fiction by Gay Men (LJ 9/1/95), here offers a lay reader's introduction to the debate. It is at once a "reader's adviser," making suggestions for reading groups; a reference book; and a subjective list of greatest hits. There is, however, a real lack of balance in the amount of space given to the selected works. Libraries serving large gay populations will want this as a practical tool; others will do better with Fone and Woods.?David S. Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 473 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; 1st Anchor Books ed edition (November 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385492286
• ISBN-13: 978-0385492287
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,408,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More irritating than useful, February 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gay Canon: Great Books Every Gay Man Should Read (Paperback)

I have to give Drake credit here for a couple of good ideas: the formation of an actual canon of gay/gay-themed works and the suggested ways of building a reading group around those works. However, his approach borders on the erratic (some texts get huge write-ups, others barely get a page with little or no mention as to why they should be included in this survey) and his writing style aims for cleverness but usually only makes it to melodramatic, twee, or even flat-out vulgar. In my quest to find recommendations of "gay lit," I have been better served by collections such as _Pages Passed from Hand to Hand_ and especially _The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature_, both of which provide not only spot-on analysis but also sizeable and helpful excerpts of the works themselves. (And not to quibble--after all, it's Drake's list, not mine--but was _Dancer from the Dance_ really as awful as he would like us to believe, and where is Leavitt's _The Lost Language of Cranes_?)

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Guide, November 4, 2002

By 

Terrance H. Heath "terrancedc" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gay Canon: Great Books Every Gay Man Should Read (Paperback)

OK. No book attempting to establish any kind of a canon, let alone a gay canon is going to satisfy anyone. I picked this book up a couple of years ago, and used it as the basis for an online book group that read through Drake's recommended book group selections. Since then, the book group has dissolved, but I've kept the book on hand as a handy guide when I'm looking for something to read and don't have any immediate ideas. Drake's list is by no means exhaustive or all-inclusive, but it's a good place for the curious, or anyone who just wants to broaden their literary horizons, to start.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Necessity that Longs for Expansion, September 12, 2005

By 

Hollie P. Domingue "Rebel Scholar" (Denton, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gay Canon: Great Books Every Gay Man Should Read (Paperback)

Literary study demands a Gay Anthology, and a companion to such a compilation, but this particular attempt is sparse and leaves much to be desired. Drake offers brief commentary on a variety of works, some that overtly belong in the "gay canon," some that don't, but in too many places, the commentary is too brief. For example, the entry on Arthur Rimbaud is merely 3 paragraphs long. There is no mention of Sappho in the book. Overall, this book is a great idea, but it has been a poorly executed one in this case.