Embracing a Gay Identity: Gay Novels as Guides
By (Author) Wilfrid R. Koponen
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Praeger Publishers Inc
30th July 1993
United States
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Gender studies, gender groups
Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
305.38
Hardback
200
This work presents a psychological analysis of the process of coming out for gay men in America since 1950. Koponen looks at the process as a series of steps in a hero's journey progressing from initial denial and anger to guilt, bargaining, and depression. The stages of acceptance and integration of a gay identity represent the goal of the quest. Providing the common ground on which to analyze the coming out process, Koponen uses gay male relationships portrayed in six important American novels--Falconer by John Cheever, City of the Night by John Rechy, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, The Beautiful Room Is Empty by Edmund White, Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran, and Taking Care of Mrs. Carroll by Paul Monette. This book not only is literary study, but also is intended to help gay men reflect on their shared lived experiences. Self-help exercises on identifying and examining the stages of coming out are provided throughout the analysis.
Koponen's book presents interesting and important information. Solid bibliography, glossary of gay terminology, helpful index. Recommended.-Choice
The book is really a guide for any man learning to love himself as gay. . . . I think this is an excellent and helpful book which deserves to be widely read.-White Crane Newsletter
"Koponen's book presents interesting and important information. Solid bibliography, glossary of gay terminology, helpful index. Recommended."-Choice
"The book is really a guide for any man learning to love himself as gay. . . . I think this is an excellent and helpful book which deserves to be widely read."-White Crane Newsletter
WILFRID R. KOPONEN is a Lecturer in the English Department at Stanford University. He has degrees from the University of California, Yale Divinity School, Columbia Business School and Brown University. He is a contributor to Greenwood's Contemporary Gay American Novelists, a recently released reference edited by Emmanuel Nelson.