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The Beat Generation


	The writers of the nonconformist Beat Generation of the 1950s, many of whom were gay or bisexual, endorsed gay rights as a part of their rebellion against inhibition and self-censorship.


	A portrait of Harold Norse by Stathis Orphanos


	Paul Bowles (1910-1999) was an American expatriate composer, writer, and translator who liked to examine sexuality from a dispassionate perspective for its psychological suggestiveness.


	William Burroughs (1914-1997) was an outlaw and a provocateur in both his life and his novels. He focused on sexual repression as the fundamental element of social control and wrote in a surrealistic and bitterly satirical mode.


	Robert Duncan (1919-1988), an American poet, published an article entitled "The Homosexual in Society" in 1944. While his openness damaged his career, it also allowed him to create a remarkable series of poems that deal directly with the love of men for other men.


	Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) is probably the best-known U.S. poet to emerge in the post-World War II period. His first book, Howl and Other Poems (1956), is a sharp, sexually explicit denunciation of America's cultural temper during the Cold War.


	Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) is primarily known for his novels depicting Beat life, though his experimental writings inspired several writers because of their inventiveness and unique use of sound. Though he was bisexual, he omitted references to his homosexuality from his otherwise autobiographical works.


	Harold Norse (b. 1916) is a poet and memoirist often categorized as a Beat writer. His poetry uses everyday language to express homoerotic attractions and encounters not as novelty but as lived experience.


	Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) was an influential writer whose works were influenced by both modern art and urban gay male culture. One of his most important innovations was an allegiance to popular culture in his poetry.

	Related Special Features
	American Literature: Gay Male, 1900-1969 American Literature: Lesbian, 1900-1969

	Photo Credits: Portrait of Harold Norse courtesy Stathis Orphanos.


	Notable Birthdays this Week


	March 13

	Janet Flanner AMERICAN WRITER BEST KNOWN FOR FIFTY YEARS OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEW YORKER, 1892		Joe Goode CHOREOGRAPHER WHO CHALLENGES TRADITIONAL GENDER ASSUMPTIONS, 1951

	March 14

	Sylvia Beach AMERICAN EXPATRIATE BOOKSELLER AND EDITOR WHO INFLUENCED THE COURSE OF MODERN LITERATURE, 1887

	March 15

	Colin McPhee CANADIAN-BORN COMPOSER WHOSE WORK INCORPORATES NON-WESTERN STYLES, 1900		Kate Bornstein TRANSGENDER ACTIVIST WHO CHALLENGES AUDIENCES TO BUCK THE GENDER SYSTEM, 1948

	March 16

	Rosa Bonheur THE MOST POPULAR ARTIST IN 19TH-CENTURY FRANCE, 1822		David Del Tredici PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AMERICAN COMPOSER AND PIANIST, 1937

	March 17

	Alice Austen PHOTOGRAPHER WHO CHALLENGED STEREOTYPES IN NEARLY EVERY ASPECT OF HER LIFE, 1866		Bayard Rustin KEY AFRICAN-AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST WHOSE LEGACY HAS SUFFERED BECAUSE OF HIS HOMOSEXUALITY, 1910

	Clay Shaw HOMOSEXUAL WHO WAS FALSELY ACCUSED AND TRIED FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, 1913		Rudolf Nureyev THE GREATEST BALLET DANCER OF HIS GENERATION, 1938

	Alexander McQueen BRITISH DESIGNER WHOSE FASHIONS ARE EROTIC, FANTASTICAL, AND OFTEN ANDROGYNOUS, 1969

	March 18

	Alice French AUTHOR OF CODED STORIES THAT CELEBRATE INDEPENDENT, FINANCIALLY SELF-SUFFICIENT, WOMEN-CENTERED WOMEN, 1850		Wilfred Owen ENGLISH WAR POET WHO PRECISELY OBSERVED THE HORROR OF TRENCH WARFARE, 1893

	Sergei Paradjanov RUSSIAN FILMMAKER AND SURVIVOR OF EIGHT YEARS IN THE SOVIET GULAG, 1924		John Kander COMPOSER WHOSE WORK CELEBRATES THE POLYMORPHOUS PERVERSE, 1927

	March 19

	Sir Richard F. Burton CONTROVERSIAL BRITISH SOLDIER, EXPLORER, AND EXPERT ON SEXUALITY IN INDIA AND THE ARAB WORLD, 1821

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New on glbtq
	Computers, the Internet, and New Media. Since the advent of the Internet, lesbians, gay men, and sexual and gender nonconformists of all kinds have been able to use a variety of computer-mediated communications to meet and network both on- and offline.
	Ellen Hart (b. 1949) is a prolific mystery writer and a winner of multiple Lambda Literary Awards, who writes "whydunits" rather than "whodunits."
	Essex Hemphill (1957-1995) became arguably the most critically acclaimed and best known openly gay contemporary African-American poet despite a career cut short by AIDS.
	Paul Russell (b. 1956) is a novelist known for his intricate narratives and eloquent prose style. He creates works that focus on the sexual and emotional complexities of gay male relationships, especially those that cross generations.
	Slash Fiction refers to a genre of fan writing that imagines homoerotic bonds developing between the leads of a variety of "cult" mainstream media productions, including television shows and films.

	New in Special Features

	Interview: Dorothy Allison. In addition to being a writer and a Southern expatriate with attitude, Dorothy Allison is a lifelong feminist activist and a lesbian radical. In this 1994 interview with Owen Keehnen, she discusses her collection of essays, *Skin: Talking about Sex, Class, and Literature, and her novels Bastard out of Carolina* and *Cavedweller*, as well as her experience as a finalist for the National Book Award.


	Interview: Allan Gurganus. Writer Allan Gurganus is the author of the best-selling *The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, the prize-winning short story collection White People, and the AIDS novel Plays Well with Others. In this 1997 interview with Owen Keehnen, he discusses Plays Well with Others, the spiritual quality of care giving, his battle with Harper's* magazine, fending off the affections of John Cheever, and more.

Special Features

H o t T o p i c s

Lesbians in Hollywood

Rock Music Part 1

Cross-Dressers: Male, Part 1

Autobiography: Gay Male

American Television Part 1

F. Valentine Hooven: Tom of Finland's Biographer, 1993

American Television Part 2

Music: Women's

Christian Denominations

Hinduism

more special features

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