Links to Reviews of Biographies of Gays and Lesbians (See also: Links to Reviews of Books on Gay and Lesbian History) LATEST ADDITIONS (updated 3 February 2006) The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer by David Leavitt (W. W. Norton, 2005). Review in the New Yorker Tab Hunter Confidential by Tab Hunter, with Eddie Muller (Algonquin Books, 2005) Isherwood : A Life Revealed by Peter Parker (Random House, 2004). The definitive life of Christopher Isherwood Andre Gide: Pederasty and Pedagogy, by Naomi Segal (Clarendon Press, 1998). Blake and Homosexuality, by Christopher Z. Hobson (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001). Against the backdrop of Britain's underground 18th and early 19th century homosexual culture, mob persecutions, and executions of homosexuals, the author shows how William Blake's hatred of sexual and religious hypocrisy and state repression, and his revolutionary social vision, led him gradually to accept homosexuality as an integral part of human sexuality Siegfried Sassoon by Max Egremont (Picador, 2005) William Empson: Among the Mandarins by John Haffenden (Oxford University Press, 2005). Life of the poet and literary critic, but rather reticent about his homosexuality. Review in the Observer Charlotte: Being a True Account of an Actress's Flamboyant Adventures in Eighteenth-Century London's Wild and Wicked Theatrical World, by Kathryn Shevelow (Henry Holt & Company, 2005). A biography of the cross-dressing actress Charlotte Charke (1713-1760). Review in the New York Times Colonel Barker's Monstrous Regiment: A Tale of Female Husbandry by Rose Collis (Virago, 2002). The story of Valerie Simpson who in the 1920s passed as a man named Victor Barker. The Letters of Lytton Strachey, ed. Paul Levy (Viking, 2005). Reviews in the Guardian and the Telegraph; long review in the Spectator. Strachey website at the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive The World of Christopher Marlowe by David Riggs (Faber and Faber, 2004). Review Wild Girls: Natalie Barney and Romaine Brooks by Diana Souhami (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004) Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin, by John D'Emilio (Free Press, 2003). A biography of the gay black civil rights activist who organized the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington. Monsieur d'Eon Is a Woman: A Tale of Political Intrigue and Sexual Masquerade, by Gary Kates (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir by Lillion Faderman (Houghton Mifflin, 2003) Dearly Beloved Friends: Henry James's Letters to Younger Men edited by Susan E. Gunter and Steven H. Jobe (University of Michigan Press, 2001) Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote edited by Gerald Clarke (Random House, 2004). Introduction and Reviews The Exiled Collector: William Bankes and the Making of an English Country House by Anne Sebba (London: John Murray, 2004) Who's Who in Lesbian & Gay Writing ed. Gabriele Griffin (Routledge, 2002) ACKERLEY, J.R.. Review of a biography of and books by Joe Ackerley The Scarlet Professor— Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal by Barry Werth. Another review. Readers' reviews at Amazon.com AUDEN, W.H. Long review by James Fenton of Auden's poetry, focusing on his relationship with his lover Chester Kallman BACON, Sir Francis. Compendium review of several biographies of Sir Francis Bacon BALDWIN, James: Review of his life and work by Colm Tóibín BERNERS, Lord. Compendium review of various works by Lord Berners Anthony Blunt: His Lives by Miranda Carter. Life of Anthony Blunt (1907-1983), gay British art historian turned spy, friend of the gay spies Guy Burgess, Donald MacLean and Kim Philby Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas by Douglas Murray. Available from Amazon.com Queer Burroughs by Jamie Russell: an exploration of the queer novels of William S. Burroughs, particularly his attempt to overturn stereotypes of gay men as effeminate. An e-book available from Amazon.com Byron and Greek Love: Homophobia and 19th-Century England by Louis Crompton. Available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com (which has excerpts). Byron: Life and Legend by Fiona MacCarthy. Review by Christopher Hitchens CARAVAGGIO. Compendium review of various biographies of Caravaggio Cavafy: A Biography, by Robert Liddel (Gerald Duckworth, 2000). Interesting article on Cavafy COLETTE. Review of two biographies of Colette CRANE, Hart An essay marking the centenary of the birth of Hart Crane the American gay poet, with a critique of "homotextual" readings of his work and the recent biography by Paul Mariani titled The Broken Tower; excerpts and reviews from Amazon.com Dirty Pictures: Tom of Finland, Masculinity and Homosexuality by Micha Ramakers. Available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com T.S. ELIOT: Carole Seymour-Jones's Painted Shadow: The Life of Vivienne Eliot, First Wife of T. S. Eliot argues that Eliot was secretly gay. Louis Menand reviews the evidence Eminent Maricones by Jaime Manrique, about famous Hispanic gay men such as Manuel Puig, Reinaldo Arenas and Federico Garcia Lorca. Another review. Full text of Chapter One, and extract about Reinaldo Arenas. Get it from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk The Erotomaniac: The Secret Life of Henry Spencer Ashbee by Ian Gibson. Biography of "Pisanus Fraxi", the Victorian collector of pornography, whose Bibliography of Prohibited Books has good references to homoerotica. Interesting readers' reviews at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com The Man Who Was Dorian Gray by Jerusha Hull McCormack. Babpuppy review. The life of John Gray (1866-1934), model behind Oscar Wilde's notorious novel. GRAY, Thomas Review of Thomas Gray: A Life by Robert L. Mack. Excerpts from Amazon.com The Trials of Radclyffe Hall by Diana Souhami Radclyffe Hall, Your John: The Love Letters of Radcliffe Hall, ed. Joanne Glasgow (Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life and Literature Series, New York University Press, 1999) Handel as Orpheus by Ellen Harris, which demonstrates that Handel wrote his early cantatas for homosexual patrons and that they can be read as homosexual works, and suggests that Handel, who never married, might have been gay. Detailed synopsis at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com Amphibious Thing: The Life of Lord Hervey by Lucy Moore (publisher's description). Interesting readers' reviews on Amazon.co.uk HOUSMAN, A.E. Perceptive biography of A.E. Housman, and a critique of Tom Stoppard's play contrasting Housman and Wilde, The Invention of Love King James and the History of Homosexuality by Michael B. Young. Another review from Windy City Times King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire by David M. Bergeron. King James wrote many gay love-letters to his boyfriends, especially George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, whose letters explicitly returned James's passion. Very detailed synopsis at Amazon.co.uk. Another Review Mikhail Kuzmin: A Life in Art by John E. Malmstad and Mikolay Bogomolov. Excerpts from Amazon.com LEAR — Edward Lear: The Complete Verse ed. by Vivien Noakes, who seems to abandon the argument in her earlier biography that Lear was homosexual. Available from Amazon.co.uk Lieutenant Nun, Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World. Autobiography of the 17th-cent. cross-dresser Catalina de Erauso. Synopsis at Amazon.co.uk Lorca and Censorship: The Gay Artist Made Heterosexual by Daniel Eisenberg Lorca: A Dream of Life by Leslie Stainton The Lord Cornbury Scandal: The Politics of Reputation in British America by Patricia U. Bonomi, a study of the supposed portrait of the governor of New York and New Jersey from 1702 to 1708 in women's clothing. Synopsis at Amazon.co.uk Thomas Mann by Hermann Kurzke. Previously unavailable diaries reveal that Germany's greatest writer since Goethe was definitely bisexual, with all his strongest passions being for young men. Somerset Maugham by Jeffrey Meyers (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004). Long review of the new biography that gives detailed information about Maugham's many homosexual affairs. Another review The Gay Herman Melville Reader edited by Ken Schellenberg (Arlington: Gival Press, 2002). Review Christopher Millard and the Origins of the Quest for Corvo Biography of Millard, who was jailed for homosexuality before and after the First World War, who wrote books on Wilde and Gide, and influenced A.J.A. Symons's famous biography of Baron Corvo (Frederick Rolfe) MONTGOMERY — The Full Monty by Nigel Hamilton. The reviewer is not convinced that Montgomery, the military hero, was a repressed homosexual, but Hamilton says his letters make his homoerotic inclinations clear. Detailed readers' reviews at Amazon.co.uk NABOKOV Was Vladimir Nabokov's hatred of homosexuality influenced by conflict over his gay brother Sergei? YES says an article in Salon. NO say his relatives. NIETZSCHE, Frederich: Review of Zarathustra's Secret: The Interior Life of Friedrich Nietzsche by Joachim Köhler which suggests Nietzsche's philosophy was based on his secret homosexuality. Another review. Available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com Oscar Wilde's Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy, and the Most Outrageous Trial of the Century, by Philip Hoare, about the actress Maud Allen, accused of being a lesbian. Also first chapter of Oscar Wilde's Last Stand. Detailed readers' reviews at Amazon.co.uk PORTER, Cole Review of Cole Porter: A Biography by William McBrien. Extracts and reviews at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk RATTIGAN, Terence Review of the biography by Michael Darlow RIMBAUD, Arthur Long review of two biographies of the 19th-century French poet by Graham Robb and Jean-Luc Steinmetz. Readers' reviews at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk Sappho: Collective review of If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Anne Carson (Virago, 2004), The Sappho History by Margaret Reynolds (Palgrave, 2004), and Sappho's Leap by Erica Jong (Norton, 2004). The Sappho Companion by Margaret Reynolds. Available from Amazon.com. Lesbian Desire in the Lyrics of Sappho by Jane McIntosh Snyder (Columbia University Press, 1997). Another review from Gay Today. Bryn Mawr review. Available from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk SHAKESPEARE Review of The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Helen Vendler SHELLEY: Was Percy Bysshe Shelley Gay? by John Lauritsen Lytton Strachey and the Search for Modern Sexual Identity: The Last Eminent Victorian (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) (Harrington Park Press, 2003). Includes survey of homosexuality among other members of the Bloomsbury Group such as Dora Carrington, Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes. Publisher's summary by Julie Anne Taddeo Horace Walpole: The Great Outsider by Timothy Mowl. Biography of the 18th-cent. Gothic novelist. Available from Amazon.co.uk WHALE, James. Compendium review of various biographies of Whale, including Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-1998 by David Ehrenstein Walt Whitman: A Gay Life by Gary Schmidgall (E. P. Dutton, 1997). IGLR review Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II by Robert Aldrich (ed.) and Garry Wotherspoon (ed.). Also Vol. 2: From World War Two to the Present Day. Available from Amazon.com Wicked Ernest by John Wardroper. Newly-published biography about the Duke of Cumberland (uncle to Queen Victoria), which deals in detail about the suicide of his valet Joseph Sellis and the allegations of homosexuality and murder made against him The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde by Neil McKenna (London: Century, 2003). Review The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde: The First Uncensored Transcript of the Trial of Oscar Wilde Vs. John Douglas (Marquess of Queensberry), 1895 Introd by Merlin Holland (London: Fourth Estate, 2003) WILDE, Oscar Review of several books about Wilde, focusing on his conviction for homosexual offences. And The Importance of Posing as Oscar in which Eric Bentley discusses biographies of Wilde by Richard Ellman, Gary Schmidgall and Barbara Belford, and also two biographies of Alfred, Lord Douglas The Zuni Man-Woman by Will Roscoe. Excerpts and reviews at Amazon.com    Search Rictor Norton's site or the web        powered by FreeFind     Site search Web search [ What's New ] Search WWW Search Rictor Norton's site CITATION: Rictor Norton, "Links to Reviews of Books on Queer History," Gay History and Literature, updated 15 March 2007 <http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/gaylink2.htm> Go to Queer History Links Return to Gay History and Literature Go to Rictor Norton's Homepage/Sitemap