Part 11 (2/2)
This is one of the better and more serious approaches to the writing of a serious novel of lesbians through the stereotyped pattern of the paperback novel. The basic plot concerns Anne, and her experiences in trying to find out for herself, the hard way, whether she is a lesbian or whether she can successfully adjust to life as a normal woman. The story ends with the surprising, but growingly popular affirmation that ”adjustment” is not always to be desired at all costs. The cover also calls this a story of ”society's greatest curse”, meaning h.o.m.os.e.xuality; but for once it isn't treated that way.
_The Third s.e.x._ pbo, Beacon, 1959. Most of the remarks made above also apply to this one, though the heroine is Joan, a college girl who fears that she is becoming a lesbian, and fights it by redoubling her affairs with men. Slightly more sensational than ”Odd Girl”, but well written, well thought out and generally excellent.
SMITH, DOROTHY EVELYN. _The Lovely Day._ N. Y., Dutton, 1957.
Interesting novel of an English village on a choir outing, contains a minor but funny account of an unconscious lesbian's decisions.
SMITH, Sh.e.l.lEY. (pseud. of Nancy Bodington.) _The Lord Have Mercy_, Harper 1956, pbr tct _The Shrew is Dead_, Dell 1959.
English mystery story; a major subplot involves a pair of lesbians.
SNEDEKER, CAROLINE DALE. _The Perilous Seat._ Doubleday, Doran 1929, marginal (m) in a juvenile of ancient Greece; the hero, being sold into slavery, attempts to disfigure himself to escape ”the fate of handsome boys among the Persians.”
STAFFORD, JEAN. _Boston Adventure._ Harcourt, 1944.
STEIN, GERTRUDE. _Things as They Are._ Banyan Press, Pawlet, Vermont. (Very rare; $25 and up second hand.) A novel by the well-known surrealist poet ... possibly her only coherent work ...
dealing with lesbianism.
STONE, SCOTT. _The Divorcees._ Beacon pbo 1955, released 1959 Evening waster about a racketeer who specializes in quick divorces, and his girl-friend who flirts with all the women as he disengages them from their husbands.
_Margo._ Beacon pbo 1955, released 1959. scv.
_Blaze._ Berkley pbo or pbr, n. d. no data except ”trash”.
SOUBIRAN, ANDRe. _Bedlam._ Putnam 1957, pbr Pyramid 1959, (m) minor.
STONEBRAKER, FLORENCE. _Sinful Desires._ pbr Bedside Books, 1959.
(previous paperback, publisher unknown, ca. 1951). Silly novel about a married woman briefly captivated by a stereotyped lesbian.
+ STURGEON, THEODORE. (pseud. of Edward Hamilton Waldo). ”Affair with a Green Monkey”. Venture Science Fiction May 1957; also in _A Touch of Strange_, Doubleday 1959.
”The s.e.x Opposite”. in _E. Pluribus Unicorn_, Abelard 1952, Ballantine pbr 1953.
”The World Well Lost” in _E Pluribus Unicorn._ Many of Sturgeon's other short stories and novelettes touch on extremely strange, offbeat relations.h.i.+ps.
+ SWADOS, FELICE. _House of Fury._ Doubleday 1941, pbr Lion 1955, Berkley 1959. One of the better paperbacks, dealing with racial tensions and muted lesbian attachments in a girl's reformatory.
SWINBURNE, ALGERNON. _Lesbia Brandon._ Falcon Press 1952, edited and annotated by Randolph Hughes. A famous incomplete novel by the well-known poet, for students rather than readers. Really only a handful of scattered chapters, too sc.r.a.ppy to judge; see also poetry supplement.
SYDNEY, GALE. _Strange Circle._ Beacon Books pbo 1959, 1960. Grace Garney, feeling unwanted, gets a job with Mrs. Flocke, a repulsive lesbian, and repels a pa.s.s; this, however, revives childhood memories, and during a rift in her affairs with a man, she has a brief affair with Inez, a friend with an unsatisfactory husband.
Evening waster.
SYKES, GERALD. _The Center of the Stage._ N. Y., Farrar 1952, pbr Signet 1954. Witty novel of the theatre, with a minor lesbian character.
TAYLOR, DYSON. _Bitter Love._ orig. copyright 1952, Pyramid 1958, (m). Worldly woman marries a h.o.m.os.e.xual who wants her for a ”front”.
TAYLOR, JOHN. _Shadows of Shame._ Pyramid 1956, 1959, (m).
TAYLOR, VALERIE. _Whisper Their Love._ Crest pbo 1957.
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