Middlebrow Queer: Christopher Isherwood in America

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

How could one write about gay life for the mainstream public in Cold War America Many midcentury gay American writers, hampered by external and internal censors, never managed to do it. But Christopher Isherwood did, and what makes his accomplishment more remarkable is that while he was negotiating his identity as a gay writer, he was reinventing himself as an American one.

Reviews

"Jaime Harkers approach to Isherwoods American workhis Cold War novels, as she calls themis a welcome fresh perspective on a neglected topic. In situating Isherwoods 50s and 60s writing in the context of the rise of the paperback book, its distribution system, and readership, Harker recuperates a period of active gay and lesbian publishing. The history she uncovers of queer publishing in the Cold War years complicates the common history of homophobia and persecution associated with the era." James J. Berg, editor of Isherwood on Writing

Author Bio

Jaime Harker is associate professor of English at the University of Mississippi. She is author of America the Middlebrow: Womens Novels, Progressivism, and Middlebrow Authorship between the Wars and coeditor, with Cecilia Konchar Farr, of The Oprah Affect: Critical Essays on Oprahs Book Club.