The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature

Drawing on a variety of traditions and cultures--from ancient Greece to modern Egypt, from the Hebrew Bible to the Russian revolutionary Sergei Esenin--Fone has reprinted not only significant texts, but has also supplied readable, intelligent introductions that illuminate the subject. Most of the material here, apart from a short section on Latin American and Cuban writing, is steeped in a Western European tradition; the book nevertheless conjures a good case for a gay sensibility--or rather a series of sensibilities--that amazes, alarms, and endures. --Michael Bronski