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Boston Public Library (BPL) has a lengthy history of providing access to a wealth of information for and about the LGBTQ community, offering an avenue of discovery about queer perspectives and experiences. In 2015, the BPL increased its number of LGBTQ materials by 30 percent with the purchase of newly published titles, the expansion of its e-book collections, and the introduction of previously published titles to the e-book format. Also in the last year, two books featuring same-sex romances ranked in the BPL’s top 50 list of circulating adult titles. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (2014), featuring a lesbian love affair set in post-WWI London, was the 34th most-checked-out book of the year. Close behind was The Song of Achilles by Boston-based author Madeline Miller (2011), which tells the story of a love affair between Achilles and Patroclus during the Trojan War. In honor of Boston Pride, the Reader’s Services Department at the BPL has compiled a chronological list of 14 exceptional books. Half are groundbreaking titles that paved the way for LGBTQ literature to come, while the rest are contemporary titles covering a diverse range of settings, characters, time periods, and backgrounds. All of these titles are available through the BPL’s online catalogue (bpl.org). 122 | Boston Pride 2016
Credit: Boston Public Library.
A trove of LGBTQ literature awaits you at the Boston Public Library
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (1928) FICTION HALL R Stephen Gordon was a little girl who always felt out of place in the Victorian upper class. When Stephen falls passionately in love with a woman, she struggles to find acceptance within the confines of society. The Well of Loneliness is considered to be a thinly veiled autobiography of Hall and is the only novel Hall wrote with a lesbian character. Although its only sexual reference consists of the words “and that night, they were not divided,” The Well of Loneliness faced obscenity charges in Great Britain and the United States at the time of its publication, which almost ruined Hall’s literary career.
The City and the Pillar and Seven Early Stories by Gore Vidal (1948) FICTION VIDAL G Handsome, all-American athlete Jim is shy around girls but values his relationship with his best friend Bob. As Jim grows up and discovers his attraction to other men, he bases his life choices on the hope that the result will always bring him back to Bob. The City and the Pillar was widely recognized at the time for its portrayal of a masculine gay character and as the first post-World War II novel with an openly gay protagonist who is not killed off at the end.
