Publisher's Synopsis
Lesbian and gay theory is now one of the most provocative and lively areas of inquiry into questions of sex, gender and sexuality. "Sexual Sameness" looks at the differing textual strategies men and women writers have developed to celebrate same-sex living and loving. Examining writings as diverse as those of Walt Whitman, James Baldwin, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Audre Lorde, this wide-ranging and important book demonstrates how literature has been one of the few cultural spaces in which sexual outsiders have been able to explore forbidden desires. From the "perversions" censured by St. Augustine to the stigmatization of people living with AIDS, "Sexual Sameness" reveals the persistent homophobia that has until recently almost completely inhibited our understanding of lesbian and gay writing.;This book should be of interest to undergraduates and academics involved in the study of English and American literature and women's and gay studies.
