Part 7 (2/2)
LACY, ED. _Room to Swing._ Harper Bros. 1957, pbr Pyramid 1958. A colored detective is retained by a pair of lesbians to solve a murder; is instead accused of committing it. Good.
+ LANDON, MARGARET. _Never Dies the Dream._ Doubleday, 1949. An unmarried woman missionary in Siam incurs criticism and suspicion when she shows marked favor to an unfortunate American girl at the mercy of the Orient; later, when she risks her own life by isolating herself to nurse Angela through typhoid, she loses her own position. Neither the author nor the heroine of the novel admit the faintest tinge of lesbianism to the relations.h.i.+p, which is full of warmth and selfless sacrifice, and India angrily denies the accusation when it is made; but the high emotional intensity of the whole story bring it well within the boundaries of the field and place it high on the list.
LA FARGE, CHRISTOPHER. _The Sudden Guest._ Coward-McCann, 1946.
The human driftwood blown up by a hurricane includes a pair of lesbians, stirring latent memories in the novel's heroine-an embittered, abandoned spinster.
+ LAPSLEY, MARY. _Parable of the Virgins._ R. R. Smith, 1931.
High-keyed novel of many emotional fevers, hetero and h.o.m.os.e.xual, in a woman's college.
LAWRENCE, D. H. ”The Fox”, ss in Dial Magazine 1922, also in hcr but NOT in pbr edition of _The Captain's Doll_, Thomas Seltzer, 1923.
_The Rainbow._ Modern Library 1915, 1943, pbr Avon 1959, 1960. In a long, three-generation novel of the Brangwyn family, one variant episode between young Ursula and a teacher.
LAURENT-TAILHADE, MARIE LOUISE. _Courtesans, Princesses, Lesbians._ (Trans. from French by G. M. C.) Paris, Libraire Astra.
Casanova-ish memoir; French pamphleteering of Pre-revolutionary days. Bitter, explicit and mildly disgusting; mentioned mostly to state emphatically that the French Libraire Astra, and the Astra's Tower Checklist, have NO connection.
LE CLERQ, JACQUES. _Show Cases._ Macy-Masius, 1928. Offbeat short stories, dealing with male and female h.o.m.os.e.xuality.
LEAR-HEAP, WINIFRED. _The Shady Cloister._ Macmillan, 1950. Quiet, understated and sympathetic story of feminine relations.h.i.+ps in a school setting-but without the melodramatic atmosphere of tragedy which usually surrounds such stories.
+ LEE, MARJORIE. _The Lion House._ Rinehart, 1959. Well-written attempt to capture and doc.u.ment the confused and s.h.i.+fting morals of modern suburban living. Brad, husband of Jo, starts the story by flirting with Frannie; this backfires when Frannie and Jo become friends. As the relations.h.i.+p grows more intense, it proves so disturbing that even after Frannie has admitted its nature Jo cannot accept it; Frannie attempts to solve her problems via psychoa.n.a.lysis, while Jo continues floundering in her unresolved conflicts. This year's best new novel.
LEE, GYPSY ROSE. _Gypsy, a Memoir._ Harper Bros. 1959, pbr Dell 1959. In a fascinating, probably largely fictional autobiography, the ex-burlesque queen/novelist shows one thoroughly comical lesbian character. This is really minor, but marvelously funny, and anyone who plows through all the crud we mention will get a real break from this.
LE FANU, SHERIDAN. ”Carmilla” in _Green Tea and Other Ghost Stories._ Also in Vol III of ”The Forgotten Cla.s.sics of Mystery”, ent.i.tled _Sheridan Le Fanu, the Diabolical Genius_. Also in _Strange and Fantastic Stories_, ed. by Joseph Margolies, McGraw Hill, 1946. Fantastic lesbian vampire.
LEIBER, FRITZ. ”The s.h.i.+p Sails at Midnight”, in _The Outer Reaches_, ed. August Derleth, Arkham House, Sauk City, Wisc. 1951.
Science-fiction or fantasy of a strange, unusual woman who captivates a whole group of college students; tragedy is touched off by their jealous rage when it is discovered that she has been making love to all of them-not simultaneously of course.
Extremely well done, hint of allegory.
LEGRAND, NADIA. _The Rainbow Has Seven Colors._ N. Y. St Martins, 1958. After the death of the heroine her life is reviewed by seven people who loved her (as with _Of Lena Geyer_) including a lesbian who loved her and a young girl who wanted to.
+ LEHMANN, ROSAMOND. _Dusty Answer._ N. Y., Holt, 1927. Still in print. Well-known novel in which the heroine's whole life is conditioned by her love for a college cla.s.smate. Delicate, beautifully written.
LENGEL, FRANCES. _Helen and Desire._ Olympia Press, Paris, 1954.
scv, and you can't buy it in this country legally. If you locate a copy you'll know why we say you aren't missing a thing. Seamy novel of a nymphomanic --ing her way around the world. (It's not worth going to Paris to read.)
LESLIE, DAVID STUART. _The Man on the Beach._ London, Hutchinson 1957, (m).
LEVAILLANT, MAURICE. _The Pa.s.sionate Exiles._ (trans. Malcolm Barnes.) Farrar, Straus & Cudahy 1958. Historical ”dual biography”
of Madame de Stael and Madame Recamier.
+ LEVIN, MEYER. _Compulsion._ Simon & Schuster 1956. pbr Pocket Books 1958, (m).
LEWIS, SINCLAIR. _Ann Vickers._ Doubleday, 1933. One important lesbian episode in a novel of woman suffrage, viciously condemnatory.
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