GLR November-December 2023

The Gay & Lesbian Review November–December 2023 • VOLUME XXX, NUMBER 6 WORLDWIDE

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

C ONTENTS

Notes from Underground

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

F EATURES

Loving Fassbinder 10 A KRAM H ERRAK

El Hedi ben Salem’s fateful years with the workaholic filmmaker

Georges Eekhoud’s Forbidden Foray 13 M ICHAEL R OSENFELD

The Belgian writer went where no one had gone before, in 1899

An Artist Who Survived the Holocaust 17 E MILY L. Q UINT F REEMAN

The Nazis burned her work but never found Gertrude Sandmann

Prison and Privilege 20 M ARK O LMSTED

How being gay (and white) determines your social position inside

Gay Assimilation, Chinese Style 24 A NDREW H OLLERAN

LGBT life goes on in private, but signs of a “movement” are few

The Sweat of Vile Bodies 28 W ILLIAM B ENEMANN

The Shakers renounced all sex, but some men found outlets...

R E V I E W S

Tan Twan Eng — The House of Doors 31 H ANK T ROUT Ethan Mordden — Gays on Broadway Kelly Kessler, ed. — Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in Musical Theatre 32 R AYMOND -J EAN F RONTAIN Lara Vetter — H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) 34 H ILARY H OLLADAY Patrick Gale — Mother’s Boy 35 D AVID B ERGMAN Jess Cotton — John Ashbery (Critical Lives) 36 A LAN C ONTRERAS Matt Baume — Hi Honey, I’m Homo! 38 B RIAN B ROMBERGER McKenzie Wark — Love and Money, Sex and Death: A Memoir 39 A LLISON A RMIJO B RIEFS 40

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 HAIR EMER .) W ARREN G OLDFARB ( SR . ADVISOR EMER .)

Stephen Greco — Such Good Friends 42 F ELICE P ICANO Patrick E. Horrigan — American Scholar 43 J EAN R OBERTA Ronya Othmann — The Summers: A Novel 43 A NNE C HARLES Amy Schneider — In the Form of a Question 44 W ILLIAM B URTON Justin Torres — Blackouts 45 C HARLES G REEN Emma Donoghue — Learned by Heart 46 C LAUDE P ECK Ira Sachs, director — Passages (film) 50 A LLEN E LLENZWEIG

P OEMS & D EPARTMENTS

5

C ORRESPONDENCE

8 R ICHARD S CHNEIDER J R .

BTW

P OEM — “Huff” 18 T IM S TOBIERSKI A RT M EMO — How an “Androgyne” Upended Gender in 1899 23 L EE L ANZILLOTTA P OEM — “Touch” 26 M ARK E VAN C HIMSKY P OEM — “When You’re in Love with a Friend’s Partner,” 40 M ICHAEL M ONTLACK C ULTURAL C ALENDAR 47 A RT M EMO — The French Lieutenant-Colonel’s Men 48 D ALE B OYER

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

November–December 2023

3