© Columbia University Press
Gay Fiction Speaks: Conversations with Gay Novelists
February, 2001
Paper, 352 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-11695-4
$27.00
/ £16.00
Cloth, 352 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-11694-7
$68.00
/ £40.00
"A meaty compendium of worthwhile thoughts and ideas to mull over. The interviewer and the authors have collaborated to bring forth a wealth of colorful authorial confessions, personal and historical anecdotes, prescriptions for a host of the world's ills, and takes on the intersections of life and fiction." — The Gay & Lesbian Review
"The pleasure of the interviews comes from Canning's ability to prompt quirky and ingenious responses from his subjects . . . as a whole, the book illustrates how these serious artists negotiate the cultural minefields of literary and identity politics in a marketplace that both values and devalues them as 'gay.'" — Publishers Weekly
"Culled from incisive interviews, Canning strives for in-depth dialogues with scintillating results. He's captured the genius and energy of our finest generation of gay writers and its impact on today's reader. Brimming with vitality, attitude, individuality and innovation, this anthology of interviews uncovers the stories behind your favorite creative players." — Genre
"Delightful and illuminating interviews . . . I closed this book feeling wiser and more informed about gay literature and the craft of writing in general." — Martin Wilson, Lambda Book Report
"Gay literature owes an enormous debt to the trail-blazing work of Professor Canning. His ground breaking interviews record a gay literary tradition that is quickly passing, and this herculean feat in itself would be enough to warrant publication. These interviews, however, do more than record the thoughts of important neglected writers. They begin to outline the as-yet-untold history of Anglo-American gay male fiction." — David Van Leer, author of The Queening of America: Gay Culture in a Straight Society
"Since Canning’s reading and his sympathies are so deep, his book passes beyond the issue of 'straight vs. gay'into the universals of how people interact with the world even as the world impacts on them. This book will be necessary reading for anyone interested in the fiction of our time." — Patrick Merla, editor of Boys Like Us: Gay Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories