Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Ancient and Classical Cultures
- Part II Renaissance and Early Modern
- Part III Enlightenment Cultures
- Part IV Queer Modernisms
- Part V Geographies of Same-Sex Desire in the Modern World
- Part VI Genres of the Present
- 32 Queer Poetry in the Long Twentieth Century
- 33 Lesbian and Gay Drama
- 34 Contemporary Gay and Lesbian Fiction in English
- 35 Autobiography
- 36 The Literature of “What If …?”
- 37 Gay Male and Lesbian Pulp Fiction and Mass Culture
- 38 Childhood Studies: Children’s and Young Adult Literatures
- 39 AIDS Literatures
- Index
33 - Lesbian and Gay Drama
from Part VI - Genres of the Present
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2014
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Ancient and Classical Cultures
- Part II Renaissance and Early Modern
- Part III Enlightenment Cultures
- Part IV Queer Modernisms
- Part V Geographies of Same-Sex Desire in the Modern World
- Part VI Genres of the Present
- 32 Queer Poetry in the Long Twentieth Century
- 33 Lesbian and Gay Drama
- 34 Contemporary Gay and Lesbian Fiction in English
- 35 Autobiography
- 36 The Literature of “What If …?”
- 37 Gay Male and Lesbian Pulp Fiction and Mass Culture
- 38 Childhood Studies: Children’s and Young Adult Literatures
- 39 AIDS Literatures
- Index
Summary
Performance plays an integral part in creating and sustaining queer public cultures, serving as a method of artistic inquiry, a mode of sexual expression, and a means of social protest. Gay theatres provided increasing opportunities for male playwrights, but they were generally much less receptive to plays by and about lesbians. The question of whether lesbian sexuality and dyke modes of humor can be made intelligible to broader audiences has preoccupied artists and activists since the earliest days of second wave feminism. The first AIDS drama to win a Pulitzer Prize was Tony Kushner's epic two-part saga, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. This daring theatrical experiment about life during the Reagan regime was one of the defining cultural events of the twentieth century. Lesbians, queers of color, and transgender artists often find themselves marginalized and lacking cultural capital, as racial distinctions and gender identifications continue to exert a profound effect on visibility and an artist's viability.
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- Information
- The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature , pp. 607 - 625Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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