Lovesick: Modernist Plays of Same-Sex Love, 1894-1925

by Laurence Senelick (Editor)

Overview

This volume makes available an international collection of plays, from Britain, the US, Germany, France and Russia, providing an essential and fascinating resource for anyone interested in the theatre culture of this period.
Lovesick brings together six plays, each with individual introductions, including an author biography and a production history. The editor provides a contextual introduction to the volume offering valuable information about the ancestry of gay theatre and queer performance.
The anthology reveals how 'sexual deviance' made its way into the drama of this time, and also how homosexual playwrights used comic or lyrical devices in order to celebrate a 'superior sensibility'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415185578
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/17/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Preface, List of Illustrations, General Introduction, The Blackmailers, by John Gray and Marc Andre Raffalovich, At saint Judas's, by Henry Blake Fuller, "Mistakes", by Herbert Hirschberg, The Dangerous Precaution, by Mikhail Kuzmin, The Gentleman of the Chrysanthemums, by Armory (Carle Dauriac), Ania and Esther, by Klaus Mann.

Editorial Reviews

During the period in which the six plays in this anthology were written and first performed, homosexuality was beginning to "come out of the closet" and be used as a theme in art and literature. The plays, which represent the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, and France, depict varying types of same-sex love. Included are The Blackmailer, a society comedy by associates of Oscar Wilde, and Ania and Esther by Klaus Mann, son of Thomas Mann. Each play is accompanied by an introduction, author biography, and production history. Senelick (drama, Tufts) provides a valuable introduction to the history of gay theater. While most of the plays offer a rather negative view of same-sex love, they do represent an important piece of gay and lesbian history. Recommended for theater arts and gay/lesbian collections.--Howard Miller, St. Louis

Library Journal

Makes available for the first time a half dozen unpublished or newly translated into English cle/> plays depicting the gamut of "the love that has no name," with a historical overview of gay theater by Senelick (drama, Tufts U.). The featured plays, each enhanced with an editorial introduction and contextual documents such as contemporary reviews, case histories, and illustrations, are: (John Gray and Marc-Andr<'e> Rafflovich); (Henry Blake Fuller); (Herbert Hirschberg); (Mikhail Kuzman); (Armory); and (Klaus Mann). No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Booknews

Besides the history of queer drama, this priceless primer provides an entertaining and enlightening look at the lost vernacular and sordid situations of our queer past.
— The Advocate

Robert L. Pela