GLR July-August 2023

The Gay & Lesbian Review July–August 2023 • VOLUME XXX, NUMBER 4 WORLDWIDE

C ONTENTS

Editor-in-Chief and Founder R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . WORLDWIDE The Gay & Lesbian Review ® PO Box 180300, Boston, MA 02118

Fantasy Lands

F EATURES

Literary Editor M ARTHA E. S TONE Poetry Editor D AVID B ERGMAN Associate Editors S AM D APANAS P AUL F ALLON J EREMY F OX M ICHAEL S CHWARTZ Contributing Writers R OSEMARY B OOTH D ANIEL A. B URR C OLIN C ARMAN A NNE C HARLES A LFRED C ORN A LLEN E LLENZWEIG C HRIS F REEMAN P HILIP G AMBONE M ATTHEW H AYS A NDREW H OLLERAN I RENE J AVORS J OHN R. K ILLACKY C ASSANDRA L ANGER A NDREW L EAR D AVID M ASELLO

We’re Heroes, We’re Queeroes... 10 A NDREW W HITE

Gay Robin, bi Superman, and the rainbow of DC Comics

Romancing the Avatar 13 A SHTON C ORSETTI

Video games let you try on new identities in your quest for love

Fanfiction and the Omegaverse 17 H ANNAH M ATTHEWS

Whole new sexualities are permissible, but old patterns persist

Grindr Leaves the City Behind 19 A ISLIN N EUFELDT

Beyond the metropolis, Grindr and Scruff play a more urgent role

A Renaissance Man in Victorian Times 21 A LLEN E LLENZWEIG

John Addington Symonds used the Greeks to broach a taboo topic

From Russia, with Love 24 A NDREW H OLLERAN

A trail of anti-gay oppression runs from Stalin to modern times

Joseph Hansen’s Pre-Stonewall World 28 N ILS C LAUSSON

For characters in his detective novels, being gay was no big deal

R EVIEWS

Michael Denneny — On Christopher Street 30 D ENNIS A LTMAN Howard Pollack — Samuel Barber: His Life and Legacy 31 R ICHARD M. B ERRONG Colm Tóibín — A Guest at the Feast: Essays 32 J EAN R OBERTA Venus Khoury-Ghata — Marina Tsvetaeva: To Die in Yelabuga 33 A NNE C HARLES João Gilberto Noll — Hugs and Cuddles 34 P HILIP G AMBONE

F ELICE P ICANO J AMES P OLCHIN J EAN R OBERTA V ERNON R OSARIO Contributing Artist C HARLES H EFLING Publisher S TEPHEN H EMRICK Webmaster B OSTON W EB G ROUP WebEditor A LLISON A RMIJO ______________________________ Board of Directors A RT C OHEN ( CHAIR ) E DUARDO F EBLES R OBERT H ARDMAN D AVID L A F ONTAINE J IM J ACOBS A NDREW L EAR R ICHARD S CHNEIDER , J R . ( PRESIDENT ) M ARTHA E. S TONE T HOMAS Y OUNGREN ( TREASURER ) S TEWART C LIFFORD (C HAIREMER .) W ARREN G OLDFARB ( SR . ADVISOR EMER .)

Stevan M. Weine — BestMinds 36 H ILARY H OLLADAY Edmund White — The Humble Lover 37 C ARR H ARKRADER Danny Ramadan — The Foghorn Echoes 38 T HOMAS K EITH Alice Winn — In Memoriam: A Novel 40 C HARLES G REEN Raúl Gómez Jattin — Almost Obscene 41 D AVID B ERGMAN

Aleksandar Hemon — The World and All That It Holds: A Novel 41 E LAINE M ARGOLIN Poetry by Irena Klepfisz, Stéphane Bouquet, Christopher Stephen Soden 42 D ALE B OYER Martin Duberman — Reaching Ninety 43 H.N.H IRSCH B RIEFS 44 Noam Gonick and Michael Walker, directors — Purple City 46 D AVID T ACIUM Laura Poitras, director — All the Beauty and the Bloodshed 50 S TEVEN F. D ANSKY

P O E M S & D E P A R T M E N T S

C ORRESPONDENCE 5 I N M EMORIAM — Michael Denneny, Gay Publishing Pioneer

6 D AVID G ROFF

BTW 8 R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . A UTHOR ’ S P ROFILE — Manuel Muñoz’ Stories of Immigrant Survival 16 N EIL E LLIS O RTS A RTIST ’ S P ROFILE — Charles Busch Takes a Selfie 26 M ATTHEW H AYS P OEM — “For October” 35 K AIT A USTIN C ULTURAL C ALENDAR 45 P OEM — “Facts about Assamese Jewelry” 47 M AYOOKH B ARUA A RTIST ’ S P ROFILE — Allen Frame: Toward a Photography of Depth 48 I RENE J AVORS

The Gay & Lesbian Review/ WORLDWIDE ® (formerly The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, 1994-1999) is published bimonthly (six times per year) by The Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational corporation located in Boston, Mass. Subscriptions: Call 847-504-8893. Rates : U.S.: $41.70 per year (6 issues). Canada and Mexico: $51.70(US). All other countries: $61.70(US). All non-U.S. copies are sent via air mail. Back issues available for $12 each. All correspondence is sent in a plain envelope marked “G&LR.” © 2023 by The Gay & Lesbian Review, Inc. All rights reserved. W EBSITE : www.GLReview.org • S UBSCRIPTIONS : 847-504-8893 • A DVERTISING : 617-421-0082 • S UBMISSIONS : Editor@GLReview.org

July–August 2023

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