Best of
Queer-Lit

1996

Between Us: A Legacy of Lesbian Love Letters


Kay Turner - 1996
    For any lover, letter writing is an act of urgency: for the lesbian lover, it has often been an act of necessity. Collected here for the first time is a sampling of poignantly revealing and often breathlessly passionate love letters between women, written over the past 140 years, including intimate musings by such famous writers as Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, and tatiana de la tierra. Illustrated with more than sixty full-color collages, Between Us is a landmark work, shedding light on lesbian love with candor, humor, and grace.

My Lover Is a Woman


Lesléa Newman - 1996
    The probing fierceness of Adrienne Rich's "Love Poem," the stirring sensual incantation of Ellen Bass's "Praise," the intensely felt tenderness of Dorothy Allison's "Reason Enough to Love You," are just a few examples of the rich talent displayed in this volume.These poets have written daring confessions of love, sorrow, anger, and joy. Each poem is an elaborate confirmation of the resilience of the human spirit, and the ability to transform experience--including the struggle against the societal taboo of same-sex love--into brilliant poetry.

Kicking the Pricks


Derek Jarman - 1996
    Shortly after the filming began, Jarman also began work on this volume of his journals, which contains diary entries and interviews, notes on the script, stills from the filming, and photographs of Derek, his family and friends.

Diaries: Volume One, 1939-1960


Christopher Isherwood - 1996
    Chronicling Isherwood's life from 1939, when he emigrated to the United States, until 1960, these entries cover some of the most turbulent years of his career and give readers unprecedented insight into the major turning points in his life. Here, Isherwood relates the spiritual crisis he went through as World War II began, his discipleship (along with Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard) with the Hindu monk Swami Prabhavananda and his decision to become a pacifist. Here also are his accounts of his intense social life in Hollywood, his career as a screenwriter and his many sexual affairs. Readers will be particularly fascinated by his revealing anecdotes and gossip about the literary greats (such as W. H. Auden, Thomas Mann, E. M. Forster, and Tennessee Williams) and movie stars (such as Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin and Sir Laurence Olivier) of the time.