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Long before the rise of the modern gay movement, an unnoticed literary revolution was occurring between the covers of the cheaply produced lesbian pulp paperbacks of the post - World War II era. In 1950, publisher Fawcett Books founded its Gold Medal imprint, inaugurating the reign of lesbian pulp fiction. These were the books that small-town lesbians and prurient men bought by the millions - cheap, easy to find in drugstores, and immediately recognizable by their lurid covers. For women leading straight lives, here was confirmation that they were not alone and that darkly glamorous, "gay" places like Greenwich Village existed. Some - especially those written by lesbians - offered sympathetic and realistic depictions of "life in the shadows," while others (no less fun to read now) were smutty, sensational tales of innocent girls led astray. In the overheated prose typical of the genre, this collection documents the emergence of a lesbian subculture in postwar America.… (more)
User reviews
Katherine V. Forrest's introduction is worth the price of the book alone, in my opinion. I am queer in a rural area, but I have the internet, and online bookstores, and e-readers to find community and literature. Forrest didn't have any of that. I can only imagine what it felt like to discover that one wasn't alone, that there were other women out there like us, and how nerve-wracking it was to march up to a counter and purchase a book like that (usually with somewhat suggestive covers).
And the excerpts themselves are interesting, as well. There are some real pulp gems, and I added a few different pulps to my "to be read" pile because of this book.
Altogether, recommended - not necessarily for the literary value (although some of the excerpts, even today, are pretty good), but for historical/cultural value.
Prevailing social beliefs are revealed – and you can see how they change in the fifteen years that are represented – but the characters themselves are motivated by love and desire. Even when they are terribly wounded by the attitudes of the times, they break through the taboos and find each other.
Prevailing social beliefs are revealed – and you can see how they change in the fifteen years that are represented – but the characters themselves are motivated by love and desire. Even when they are terribly wounded by the attitudes of the times, they break through the taboos and find each other.