Comments on: Review: The City and the Pillar by Gore Vidal http://speakitsname.com/2009/06/30/review-the-city-and-the-pillar-by-gore-vidal/ Gay Historical Fiction Sat, 19 May 2012 01:38:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Teddypig http://speakitsname.com/2009/06/30/review-the-city-and-the-pillar-by-gore-vidal/#comment-1432 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:12:49 +0000 http://speakitsname.wordpress.com/?p=863#comment-1432 One of the early Gay novels 1948 that screams THIS IS LITERATURE at the top of it’s lungs. I like how Michael Bronski points out this was used to shield it from censorship unlike books that came out only a couple of years later like James Barr’s Quatrefoil 1950.

As far as how depressing the book is, especially the ending, you have to remember this is post World War 2 and homosexuality is labeled a psychological problem thanks in part to the military.

Anyway, I treat this one as a point of gay literary interest. Not a great story.

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