GLR November-December 2024

ways Here,” the author discusses a literary magazine, Seitó (“bluestocking”), that was launched in Tokyo in 1911 by and for women. It promoted equal rights for all people regardless of gender and faced considerable opposition from the main stream press and the Japanese government. The most visible women associated with the magazine deliberately combined garments considered masculine in urban Japanese culture with those considered feminine. Medhurst’s discussion of lesbian fashion carries into the present day, and it includes the long-term influence of the “anti

fashion” look of lesbian-feminists in the 1970s, as well as the rise of T-shirts with slogans as the clearest way to “out” oneself. A T-shirt that reads simply “Dyke” is featured in the last batch of photographs. This book, the author’s first, seems to be a spinoff of her blog, Dressing Dykes . She has contributed to two displays in Brighton Museum: Queer Looks and Queer the Pier. Unsuit able is likely to surprise and enlighten even readers with an ex tensive knowledge of the history of women-loving women. It would make a great basis for a documentary film.

Fruit of the Syrian Diaspora

T HREE NEW BOOKS, two nov els and a memoir, help reveal the struggles and victories of LGBT Syrians. For all the beauty of the country, Syria is a land of horrific oppres sion, where gay men in particular, fearing exposure from the police and informers, must find secret places for sexual encoun ters or social interaction. They remind us of the promise of the Arab Spring and the crackdown and refugee crisis that followed, which affected so many people’s lives. S ELAMLIK , an Ottoman Turkish term for men-only spaces, follows Furat, a young man living as a refugee in Sweden, as he remembers his life in Damascus. A litera ture student at university, he has a won derfully physical relationship with his roommate, all the while worrying about

explicit details of the boys’ physical and sexual development. Furat notices the teacher’s growing bulge in his pants as he speaks. Furat also creates sexual fantasies, in cluding a threesome in the shower with other refugees. A language class becomes a wild orgy in his imagination, with sex, am putated body parts, and cannibalism. It is at once erotic, amusing, and disturbing. O MAR Y OUSSEF S OULEIMANE ’ S The Last Syrian explores the complexities of the Syrian revolution and the fearsome powers of the government. Told in the present tense, the novel tells the story of a group of protestors in Damascus attempting to unite the people against the regime while dealing with their own personal challenges. Youssef has a brief relationship with the

C HARLES G REEN

SELAMLIK by Khaled Alesmael Translated by Leri Price WorldEdi ti ons. 240 pages, $19.99 THE LAST SYRIAN by Omar Youssef Souleimane Translated by Ghada Mourad Seagull Books. 172 pages, $21. CROOKED TEETH A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir by Danny Ramadan Viking. 304 pages, $26.95

getting caught. The noise from students in the halls hanging up mourning posters of the recently dead dictator Hafez al-Assad terrifies him. Furat is driven by both fear and recklessness. He visits the cruising area Sibki Park, only to turn away after a man there tells him the police have it under surveillance. Instead, he goes to a hammam, a public bath where gay men gather to chat and have sex. He explores other hammams throughout the city, some attended by working-class men, others by more wealthy ones, finding a sense of community at both. He also visits Cinema Bilbos, a seedy movie theater for discreet encounters. While the story takes place in the 2000s, the atmosphere for gay men feels more like the U.S. in the 1950s. While in Sweden, living with other refugees who make ho mophobic remarks, various objects and animals prompt Furat’s recollections. His mother keeps a beautiful red Quran in their home, which he recognizes later in an online execution video. He remembers the blue copy used by a memorization school he briefly attended so as to use their swimming pool, and the copy his religious studies and sex-ed teacher held up while reciting Charles Green, a frequent contributor to these pages, is a writer based in Annapolis, Maryland. November–December 2024

tailor Mohammed before fleeing to the city of Homs. He and Mohammed have an ongoing conversation through email about their lives and sexual histories, while Mohammed, not involved in protests, furtively hooks up with men and recounts episodes from Syrian and Arabic history of gay rulers’ love affairs. He grapples with his sexuality. Engaged to a woman he sees infre quently, he considers telling her about his homosexuality. She, meanwhile, is heavily involved in protests, eventually having to escape to another city. While Youssef and Mohammed’s

Announcing The Charles S. Longcope Jr. Writers and Artists Grant Sponsored by TheG&LR

As the Writers and Artists Grant begins its third year, the program will now be fully funded by the Longcope estate. With this generous donation, James Lynn Williams honors the memory of his late husband.

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