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The Calamus Root: American Gay Poetry Since World War II

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The Calamus Root: American Gay Poetry Since World War II City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 1998 The Calamus Root: American Gay Poetry Since World War II Walter Ralph Holland The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3677 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zed) Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE CALAMUS ROOT: AMERICAN GAY POETRY SINCE WORLD WAR U by WALTER R. HOLLAND A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 1998 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9820541 Copyright 1998 by Holland, Walter Ralph All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9820541 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. WALTER R. HOLLAND All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in English in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. [Signature] Date ihair of Examining Committee [Signature] Date Executive William Kel^ [Signature] [Signature] [Signature] [Signature] Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iv Abstract THE CALAMUS ROOT: AMERICAN GAY POETRY SINCE WORLD WAR II by Walter Holland Adviser: Professor Steven Kruger This dissertation argues that there is a clear gay poetic tradition dating back to nineteenth century Europe, and it describes an historical taxonomy for gay poetry in America since 1945 by reference to its characteristic themes, influences and leading figures. After a brief discussion of early precursors such as Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Walt Whitman, C.P. Cavafy, Hart Crane, Langston Hughes and W. H. Auden, the dissertation traces, through close explication of texts, the works of Harold Norse, Allen Ginsberg, Tennessee Williams, Frank O’Hara, Adrian Stanford, Richard Howard, Alfred Com and Essex Hemphill. The influences on such poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, the women’s movement, the proliferation of small gay presses, AIDS activism and queer theory are considered. An argument is made for a separate gay esthetic and poetic, and its development is traced from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth. The influence of pre-World War II homosexual poets on post-World War II gay poets is discussed, as well as the crucial emergence of a gay urbanity and a gay intelligentsia. Bloom's “anxiety of influence,” issues of marginality, the representation of masculinity and homoeroticism, Bakhtin’s theory of the camivalesque (specifically in relation to AIDS literature), and the poetry of multiculturalism, are explored as well for Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the purpose of establishing the extensive literary, critical and theoretical intertextuality of gay poetic works. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Preface In writing about a gay male tradition in American poetry I have for the most part excluded the work of lesbians. This was not intended to devalue the contribution of lesbian writers, but to focus more critically on the esthetics and history of gay men’s poetry. A history of lesbian poetry remains to be written. Given the broad scope of my topic, I can only hope to introduce the field of gay poetry in order to facilitate further research and study. In no way do I intend this project to be exhaustive or the final word on the subject. Gay poetry continues to take shape. I hope only to suggest one taxonomy and narrative of an American gay male poetic tradition in order to help guide the reader toward what I feel are important themes in the work and to provide an overview of its history. There is a wide body of literature available for the study of gay poetry, including important anthologies such as Joseph Beam’s In the Life (1986), Stephen Coote’s Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse (1983), Essex Hemphill’s Brother to Brother (1991), Rudy Kikel’s Gents. Bad Bovs & Barbarians (1994), Michael Klein’s Poets for Life (1989), David Laurent’s The Badbov Book of Erotic Poetry (1995), Winston Leyland’s Angels of the Lvre (1975), Carl Morse and Joan Larkin’s Gav& Lesbian Poetry In Our Time (1988). Felice Picano’s A True Likeness: Lesbian & Gav Writing Today (19751. Assotto Saint’s Here to Dare (1992) and The Road Before Us (1991), and Ian Young’s The Male Muse (1973). These books have proved invaluable for the initial identification of gay poets of the post-World War II period. Winston Leyland and Ian Young's introductions to their fine anthologies were helpful as well in piecing together a gay poetic history. Where space Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vii has permitted in the body of this work, I have noted the poetry contributors to a few of the many anthologies mentioned. The National Museum and Archive of Lesbian and Gay History at New York’s Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center houses the complete collections of such gay magazines as Gav Sunshine. Fag Rag. One. BLK. The Gay Liberator. RFD. COME OUT! and Christopher Street. Also at The Center, the Pat Parker/Vito Russo Library has extensive holdings of gay books o f poetry. Interviews in Gav Sunshine with Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners, Robert Duncan and Harold Norse have provided vital historical background. Additionally, I taped personal interviews with Perry Brass, Alfred Com, Edward Field, Richard Howard, Carl Morse, Assotto Saint and Ian Young, choosing each for their close association with various chronological periods in gay poetry. In addition, my work is informed by extensive reading in queer theory. Queer theory as a tool facilitates inquiry into gender and sexuality, and how these complex constructs are registered and recorded in mainstream culture. Queer readings of popular movies and fashion have sought to decode long-standing biases and misconceptions. Borrowing from the theoretical work of Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan, and French deconstruction, and dependent upon earlier work in feminist theory, such theories have analyzed in a particularly full and revealing way powerful biases of gender and sexuality at work in our own society. Works by Diana Fuss (Inside/Out 1991), Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (Epistemologv of the Closet 1990; Tendencies 1993) and Michael Warner (Fear o f a Queer Planet 1993) have been especially important for my work. Some day, twentieth century studies will look back upon the gay poetry that was Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. viii the center of so much controversy and interest, perhaps with nostalgia. I hope that my work will permit scholars to place it in its correct cultural and historical contexts and understand the incredible social forces after World War II and the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion that helped create this rich literary legacy and subcultural identity in America. This work would not have been possible without the inspiration and memory of many fine poets who were taken by AIDS. AIDS interrupted the fragile bonds of mentorship and guidance. I hope this work will act as a bridge helping to reconnect the collective memory, tradition and history of post-World War II gay writers and expose others to the powerful voice, creativity, and vitality that have yet to live on in the possibility and hope of the next century. Walter Holland NYC 5/14/97 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments Work on this project would not have been possible without the editorial assistance and close guidance of Steven Kruger.
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