Fiction tells us so much about the time we live in – and LGBTQ+ writers have been writing since the early days of literature. Their stories have often, but not always, been marginalised, but they have always said something about the era in which they were first told or published. Here, we take a look at the evolution of queer fiction across the ages – for brevity’s sake, focusing on the Western world – and what it reflects about that moment in history, from Sappho, to Stonewall, and beyond.
Madeline Miller’s 2011 hit The Song of Achilles is a moving queer retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of young prince Patroclus that simultaneously reflects pride in same-sex relationships (Achilles remains adamant throughout that he and Patroclus be seen together) and modern anxieties about romantic relationships and masculinity – how men can be gentle, how to manage family expectations.
But being queer wasn’t always coded as different, and many myths don’t require retelling: even before the printed word, ancient mythology and religious narratives were rife with romantic and sexual engagements between people of the same gender.
Patroclus and Achilles were already cast as lovers in Aeschylus’s 5th Century tragedy The Myrmidons [...]. Plato’s Symposium, from roughly 385–370 BC, cites Aeschylus’s depiction of the two as a celebratory example of love’s power to elicit sacrifice and bravery. Homosexual romance, in Greek culture, was worthy of veneration. Continue reading from Penguin UK
Important Milestones in LGBTQ Publishing (Hachette)
Celebrating Classic Gay Literature: The Best LGBTQ+ Books (Advocate)
The Evolution of the Great Gay Novel (Literary Hub)
LGBTQ Literature: 1890–1969 (Margaret Sönser Breen; Salem Press)
7 Lesbian and Bi Books Written Before The Well of Loneliness (Book Riot)
Out of Print: Lesbian Literature as an Artefact of Queer History (Archer Magazine)
Early Gay Literature Rediscovered (Huffington Post)
