Such Violent Delights by Stacey Marie Brown

Through the second half of the 20th century, as homosexuality became more visible and less taboo, gay themes came to appear more frequently in fiction. One popular and influential writer of early gay novels, Mary Renault, was a lesbian woman.

Others were heterosexual, or of unknown identity, writing under a pseudonym. Many authors of early gay novels were themselves gay or bisexual men, such as Oscar Wilde, Gore Vidal, and James Baldwin. Works that feature only minor gay characters or scenes, such as the 1748 erotic novel Fanny Hill, are not included in this list. In some cases, the label may be applied to early novels which merely contain homosexual allusions or subtext, such as Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Works which are widely labeled 'gay novels' generally feature overt gay attraction or relationships as central concerns. Many early novels depicting (or even alluding to) homosexuality were published anonymously or pseudonymously, or like Maurice, sat unpublished until after the death of the author, reflecting authors' fear of opprobrium, censorship, or legal prosecution. While the modern novel format dates back at least as far as the 18th century, novels dealing with desire or relationships between men were rare during the early part of the 20th century, and nearly non-existent before then, due to the taboo nature of homosexuality at the time. Vidal himself rejected the labels 'gay' and 'straight', believing all people were naturally bisexual. American author Gore Vidal wrote the pioneering 1948 novel The City and the Pillar about a gay man coming of age.

Such Violent Delights by Stacey Marie Brown