GLR May-June 2026

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The Gay & Lesbian Review May–June 2026 • VOLUME XXXIII, NUMBER 3 WORLDWIDE

C ONTENTS

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

Homo Litterarius

F EATURES

E. F. Benson’s Lost Romance 12 S ASHA G ARWOOD

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

The prolific author had a steamy affair with illustrator George Plank

Baldwin in Turkey, Directing a Play 16 Z EYNEP O RAL

İ pek Ş ahinler chats with James Baldwin’s longtime confidant

On the “Gays Who Kill” Subgenre 19 M ATTHEW F RYE -C ASTILLO

Move over Mr. Ripley; the new fiction is both darker and sexier

Fantasy Island, 17th-Century Style 24 V ERNON R OSARIO

The truly queer world of the French novel Hermaphrodites (1605)

Christopher Street HitsFifty 28 D OMENIC D E S OCIO

In 1976 there arose a literary magazine for the LGBT thinking set

Trans Oppression Updated 34 S USAN S TRYKER

Eli Erlick talks with the author of Transgender History

R EVIEWS

P OEMS & D EPARTMENTS C ORRESPONDENCE 5 I NTERNATIONAL S PECTRUM – Keeping Queer Culture Alive in Wartime Kyiv 8 F INBARR T OESLAND I N M EMORIAM — Don Weise, LGBT Publishing Dynamo 10 R ICHARD C ANNING BTW 11 R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R . A RT M EMO — Finnish Poets in Love 22 A RTEMIS K ELOSAARI H ISTORY M EMO — In the Age of Christopher Street 32 A NDREW H OLLERAN P OEM — “72nd St.” 36 J OHN H ARRIS P OEM — “Happiness” 38 A UDRA M C G REW H ISTORY M EMO — Also Born in 1776: Public Universal Friend 42 D ENISE N OE A RT M EMO — The Author Reflects on Blackbird at Forty 50 L ARRY D UPLECHAN A RTIST ’ S P ROFILE — Rachel Mason and the Cinematic Culturespace 53 P HIL T ARLEY A RT M EMO — Boys in Love on Asian TV 54 G REGORY A. D OBIE P OEM — “Two Steady Stars” 55 M ICHAEL J AMES O’B RIEN C ULTURAL C ALENDAR 56 Anthony Delaney — Queer Enlightenments 37 J AMES P OLCHIN Peter Ormerod — David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God 38 N IKOLAI E NDRES Nayland Blake — My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio 40 S TEVEN F. D ANSKY Michael Lowenthal — Place Envy: Essays in Search of Orientation 41 E LAINE M ARGOLIN Steve Turtell — Portraits and Places 44 M ICHAEL Q UINN Rob Franklin — Great Black Hope: A Novel 45 R EGINALD H ARRIS B RIEFS 46 Rabih Alameddine – The True, True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) 48 A NNE C HARLES Thomas R. Dunn — The Pink Scar 48 H ANK T ROUT Richie Hofmann — The Bronze Arms 49 D AVID B ERGMAN Owen Keehnen — Gay Chicago Memories: 1300 N. Wells 52 L ARRY R EYNOLDS Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages (Art) 57 A NDREW L EAR Ira Sachs, director — Peter Hujar’s Day (Film) 58 C OLIN C ARMAN

A NDREW L EAR 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 ______________________________ Board of Directors A RT C OHEN ( CHAIR ) S TEPHEN H EMRICK D AVID L A F ONTAINE J EREMY C. F OX J IM J ACOBS A NDREW L EAR R ICHARD S CHNEIDER , J R . ( PRESIDENT ) S TEPH S TOLIS T HOMAS Y OUNGREN ( TREASURER ) S TEWART C LIFFORD ( CHAIR EMER .) W ARREN G OLDFARB ( SR . ADVISOR EMER .) R OBERT H ARDMAN ( TRUSTEE EMER .)

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. Subscription 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.” ISSN: 1077: 6591 © 2026 by 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

May–June 2026

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