I have devoured Jack Fritscher’s writing in all its forms since the 1970s, so I am well acquainted with his vast knowledge not only of the leather community but of pop culture in general, his muscular prose style, his engaging wit and humor, his fervid dedication to Leathermen and Leatherwomen around the world, and his commitment to preserving gay history. Even so, Profiles in Gay Courage astonished me with its depth of feeling and its perfect reconstruction of that glorious, heartbreaking time before …

Lorca’s status as a gay man is treated thoroughly and from some unusual angles. The author asks what it means for Lorca to be a gay icon when he was not officially out during his lifetime, and very little of his written work has anything resembling a gay theme.

Ocampo’s conclusion is poignantly bittersweet: “the survival of the second-generation gay men took the form of suppression, assimilation, and overachievement.” However, these are the brown gay men who have succeeded.

JAMES PURDY Life of a Contrarian Writer by Michael Snyder Oxford Univ. Press. 456 pages, $34.95 IT SEEMS to be the fate of any article discussing James…More

The Italian Invert is an important addition to the field of queer studies. The Italian’s story—full of despair, confusion, narcissism, sexual yearning, snobbery, and ultimate self-acceptance—is as compelling as it is candid. Moreover, as editor Michael Rosenfeld points out, Zola’s collaboration with Saint-Paul was an extraordinary example of “goodwill and courage,” even though both men struggled to understand the complete reality of homosexuality.

Reading Shakespeare Reading Me offers a meditation on not only what’s queer in Shakespeare but also how queer people translate a wide range of what they find in books into their own lives. Barkan remarks: “The world literature of love and desire, with some notable exceptions, is heavily heterosexual, Shakespeare included.” Nevertheless, he finds many places in the plays and poems where queer people can see themselves

IN FEVER SPORES, an eclectic collection of essays and interviews about writer William S. Burroughs, editors Brian Alessandro and Tom Cardamone make a pitch for Burroughs’ place in the “gay canon,” arguing that the novelist “has been sainted by the literary establishment in general but not the gay literati in particular.”

            A Woman’s Battles and Transformations strikes me as the least angry and the least politically charged of Louis’ four books. In revisiting the same material, I wondered if he had run out of something new to say. Early on in the book, Louis anticipates this possible criticism: “I want to write only the same story again and again, returning to it until it reveals fragments of its truth.” It’s that fierce, determined quest to get at the truth—even “fragments” of the truth—behind poverty, class, gender domination, racism, and homophobia that makes Édouard Louis an author well worth reading no matter how many times he hits the same notes.

            Making the Rounds is alive with passion and tumult, a discovery narrative in which the writer comes to recognize herself as capable of love. More reflection on the transformation might have been nice. But then again, the journey was hectic!

            A Secret Between Gentlemen is a carefully researched book that not only delves into an episode in early 20th-century British history but also provides an in-depth look at gay history in this era. The main story is one of great intrigue, filled with sex and crime and political scandal, outlandish lives, and an extraordinary cover-up. Unlike Oscar Wilde, Lord Battersea opted to use his connections and influence to escape prosecution and prison, a story that lay dormant for over a century.