Lesbian Literature in 1959

By Geno Damon

In the March, 1958, issue of THE LADDER the article "Time Has Brought A Change" recorded a total of 19 titles n in the year 1957. This later grew to 24 Lesbian titles in all. The article "The Lesbian In Contemporary Literature" in THE LADDER, February, 1959, recorded 19 new titles for 1958 and within two months of the article's appearance the total had grown to 30. At the time this seemed to be astounding but today these figures seem small beside the total of 52 novels dealing with lesbianism in 1959.

Of the 52 titles, 18 are hardback books, the other 34 are paperback originals. Without exception the 18 hardback novels were ither sympathetic to Lesbianism or pointed no moral of any kind. The authors represented were among the better novelists and in most cases the books fared well in the hands of reviewers. Of special mention and interest, THE SENSU LISTS by Ben Hecht, THE HOUSE IN THE ¿ULBERRY TREE by Zena Garrett, BLACKBERRY WILDERNESS by Sylvia Berkman, THE LION HOUSE by Marjorie Lee, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson, and THE GOLDEN CAGE by Tereska Torres.

The 34 Paperback originals ranged from nearly pornographic tripe to lyrio and beautiful writing. Of the 34, 14 wero sympathetic and six pointed no moral or were satirical. This leaves only 14 unsympathetic titles out of the entire 52 books. Among the paperbacks deserving special mention were: I AM A WOMAN and WOMEN IN THE SHADOWS by Ann Bannon, EDGE OF TWILIGHT by Paula Christian, CHRIS by Randy Salem, THE GIRLS IN 3-B by Valerie Taylor, AMONG WOMEN ONLY by Cesare Pavese, ODD GIRL and THE THIRD SEX by Artemis Smith, THE ODD ONES by Edwina Marks, and FIRST PERSON...THIRD SEX by Sloane M. Britain.

Apparently the subject is receiving rapidly increasing

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