Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Ancient and Classical Cultures
- Part II Renaissance and Early Modern
- Part III Enlightenment Cultures
- Part IV Queer Modernisms
- Part V Geographies of Same-Sex Desire in the Modern World
- Part VI Genres of the Present
- 32 Queer Poetry in the Long Twentieth Century
- 33 Lesbian and Gay Drama
- 34 Contemporary Gay and Lesbian Fiction in English
- 35 Autobiography
- 36 The Literature of “What If …?”
- 37 Gay Male and Lesbian Pulp Fiction and Mass Culture
- 38 Childhood Studies: Children’s and Young Adult Literatures
- 39 AIDS Literatures
- Index
35 - Autobiography
from Part VI - Genres of the Present
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2014
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Ancient and Classical Cultures
- Part II Renaissance and Early Modern
- Part III Enlightenment Cultures
- Part IV Queer Modernisms
- Part V Geographies of Same-Sex Desire in the Modern World
- Part VI Genres of the Present
- 32 Queer Poetry in the Long Twentieth Century
- 33 Lesbian and Gay Drama
- 34 Contemporary Gay and Lesbian Fiction in English
- 35 Autobiography
- 36 The Literature of “What If …?”
- 37 Gay Male and Lesbian Pulp Fiction and Mass Culture
- 38 Childhood Studies: Children’s and Young Adult Literatures
- 39 AIDS Literatures
- Index
Summary
From the late sixties through the 1970s, a number of autobiographies appeared that either advanced or were made possible by the gay liberation movement. Since the advances in AIDS treatment, there have been fewer AIDS memoirs. Douglas Wright has written Ghost Dance and Terra Incognito that record a life in extended time. Lesbian and gay autobiographies are written from or about social institutions to which queers have been placed or denied admission. The subgenres of gay and lesbian memoir are often defined by these social institutions and cultural practices. One of the most contested cultural places for queer folk is the sports arena. They generally express pride in having found a way into a world that would exclude them. Many consider Conundrum to be the best written account of transgender experience. One of the more interesting male-tofemale (MTF) transgender autobiographies is Charlotte von Mahlsdorf' s I Am My Own Woman.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature , pp. 643 - 659Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014