Gay Novels of Britain Ireland and the Commonwealth 1881-1981

<p> While American gay fiction has received considerable scholarly attention little has been given to developments in other English-speaking countries. This survey catalogs 254 novels and novellas by some 173 British Irish and Commonwealth authors in which gay and bisexual male characters play a major role. Arranged chronologically from the appearance of the first gay protagonist in 1881 to works from the onset of the AIDS epidemic in 1981 in-depth entries discuss each book's publication history plot and significance for the construct of gay identity along with a brief biography of its author. Including iconic works like Oscar Wilde's <I>The Picture of Dorian Gray</I> (1890) and E.M. Forster's <I>Maurice</I> as well as lesser known but noteworthy novels such as Rose Macaulay's <I>The Lee Shore</I> (1912) and John Broderick's <I>The Waking of Willie Ryan</I> (1969) this volume--the first of its kind--enlarges our understanding of the development of gay fiction and provides an essential reading list.</p>