Historical LGBTQ+ Fiction
While lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer identified characters and themes are not uncommon in fiction today, presentation of these identities was rarer and less overt in literature up until the mid-twentieth century. This is not to say that LGBTQ+ characters and themes were absent from fiction; rather, they were typically obscured, existing through subtext, allusion, and ambiguity. This research collection spans the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries and offers researchers a glimpse into how queer subjects were discussed in fiction during this period. While novelists of the time did not always approach this subject matter positively – homosexuality in these novels is sometimes presented as sinful, tragic, or a cautionary tale – these works are valuable for understanding contemporary attitudes. The attitudes presented in these works are varied and range from positive to negative, from overt to covert, and everything in between.
Items in this collection are generally rare and hard to find, including many first editions. Examples include Theodore Winthrop’s Cecil Dreeme (1861), an early example of a nineteenth-century queer novel; Lew Levenson’s Butterfly Man (1934) which is likely the first novel to use the term “gay” to non-ambiguously mean “homosexual”; and many significant lesbian pulp novels such as Ann Bannon’s I Am a Woman (1959), Women in the Shadows (1959), and Journey to a Woman (1960).
Access: Consult the inventory of the historical LGBTQ+ fiction collection to see a list of current items.
Collection Formats: 19th Century, 20th Century, Books -- click to see other collections with this format
19th century queer novels: Rhoda Broughton’s Dear Faustina (PR 4174 B59 D43 1897); Theodore Winthrop’s Cecil Dreeme (PS 3343 W2 C3 1861); Lily F. Wesselhoeft’s Torpeanuts the Tomboy (PZ 7 W517 To 1897); & George Nugent-Bankes’ About Some Fellows (LF 795 E
Three lesbian pulp novels from Ann Bannon’s acclaimed Beebo Brinker series (PS 3552 A495 J68 1960; PS 3552 A495 W65 1959; PS 3552 A495 I13 1959).
Gerald Foster’s No Women Wanted (PS 3513 I3415 N8 1936) and Lew Levenson’s Butterfly Man (PS 3523 E7984 B87 1934), both with original dust jackets.
Title page for James J. Kane’s Miriam vs. Milton, or, The Mystery of Everdale Lake (PS 2156 K46M571894). A nineteenth-century tale of gender-swapping twins.
Winant, Fran. Looking at Women: Poems (PS 3573 I4788 L6 1971). Includes a broadside advertising Violet Press, “a lesbian/feminist press.”
Salva, Anne. Cora: Chez les hommes sans femmes (PQ 2637 A498 C67 1953). First edition of this queer French novel.