Part 4 (1/2)
Hilarious novel of confused ident.i.ty, dealing with both male and female h.o.m.os.e.xuality.
DES CARS, GUY. _The d.a.m.ned One._ pbo Pyramid, 1956. A member of French aristocracy, ambiguously s.e.xed enough to be cla.s.sified as female at birth, grows up unequivocally male but retains the name, dress and character of a female to avoid scandal-which comes anyhow when _she_ carries on with an eccentric Englishwoman.
DEUTSCH, DEBORAH. _The Flaming Heart._ Boston, Bruce Humphries, 1959, (m).
DEVLIN, BARRY. Acapulco Nocturne. Vixen Press, 1952.
Cheating Wives. Beacon pbo 1959 (copyright 1955).
Fire and Ice. Vixen Press, 1952.
Golf Widow. Vixen Press, 1953.
Lovers and Madmen. Vixen Press 1952.
Madame Big. Vixen Press 1953.
Moon Kissed. Green Farms, Conn. Modern Pubs 1957, Vixen Press 1953, pbr tct _Forbidden Pleasures_ Beacon Books 1959.
Too Many Women. Vixen(?) 1953, Beacon pbr 1959.
These are all the same sort of thing, evening wasters or scv, depending on taste. Big handsome men of incredible stamina, engaging incessantly in that one activity besides which all else is as naught, with a succession of beautiful women, blonde, brunette and redhead. Now and then this procession of affairs is varied a little by letting the girls sport with one another to give the heroes a breathing spell. In short, s.e.xy books for people who like reading s.e.xy books. Adults only, please.
DE VOTO, BERNARD. _Mountain Time._ Little, Brown & Co 1946-47, fco. One very brief overt lesbian episode.
DE VRIES, PETER. _The Tents of Wickedness._ Little, Brown & Co, 1959, Minor episode in a very funny literary satire-Army colonel who talks pure Hemingway turns out to be a WAC in disguise.
DIBNER, MARTIN. _The Deep Six._ Doubleday 1953, pbr Permabooks 1957, (m).
DIDEROT, DENIS. _Memoirs of a Nun._ (trans from French by Frances Birrell). London, Rutledge & Sons 1928, hcr London, Elek Books, Book Centre Ltd, N. Circular Road, Neasden, London, N. W. 10, England. Cla.s.sic French novel _La Religieuse_, written in 1760, published in 1796. Reflects the very bitter anti-clerical sentiment of the times just before the Revolution. A ”cornerstone”
t.i.tle.
DINESEN, ISAK. _Seven Gothic Tales._ N. Y., Smith & Haas, 1943, hcr Modern Library n.d.
”The Invincible Slave Owners”, ss in _A Winter's Tales_, Random House 1942.
DIXON, CLARISSA. _Janet and her dear Phebe._ Stokes, 1909. Girls story of two loving little chums, separated by a misunderstanding between their families, and re-united as women. Though never explicit, the story is emotional and intense. It is highly unlikely the author was quite aware of the type of attachment she was portraying.
DJEBAR, a.s.sIA. _The Mischief._ Simon & Schuster 1958, pbr Avon 1959 tct _Nadia_. Very brief but well-written novel of a young girl who falls in love with a former schoolgirl friend, now married.
+ DONISTHORPE, SHEILA. _Loveliest of Friends_, Claude Kendall 1931, pbr Berkley 1956, 1957, 1958, due for another. Boyish Kim captivates young happy-housewife Audrey and wrecks her life.
Preachy outburst against lesbians toward the end. Read it with a hanky handy. (Curiously enough, in spite of the anti-lesbian bias of the ending, and the overdone sentimentality of the Swinburnian writing, everybody seems to enjoy this one-all the Checklist editors included.)
DOWD, HARRISON. _The Night Air._ Dial Press, 1950, (m).
DRESSER, DAVID. _Mardigras Madness._ G.o.dwin 1934. One lesbian episode in an evening waster about Carnival.
DRUON, MAURICE. _The Rise of Simon Lachaume._ Dutton, 1952; hcr as part of the trilogy _The Curtain Falls_, Scribner 1960. One episode in lengthy novel of a French family involves the duping of an elderly roue by a pair of young lesbians.
+ DU MAURIER, ANGELA. _The Little Legs._ Doubleday, 1941. Sad and devastating results from a long variant enslavement. ”This is a lovely book if you enjoy crying, and I do,” says one reviewer.