Sigmund Lipinsky

Sigmund Lipinsky (1873-1940)

Mates by Tom Wakefield

London : Gay Men's Press, 1983

Len and Cyril meet during basic training and immediately have a connection. Mates tells the story of their lives together through a series of vignettes taking place at key moments between 1954 and 1983. In the early years, Cyril is ready to settle down but Len still feels he may be missing out. Trying to figure out what's possible during the 1950s and 60s is challenging.

Len’s father is very accepting of Len and Cyril’s friendship when they come for a visit … even giving up his double bed so that the 'mates' can stay together. At the end of the novel, Len is treated quite badly by Cyril's sister. Wakefield seems to be making a statement here about the earlier generation actually being a bit more accepting than the current generation (1980s). This makes some sense since in Britain, men who grew up in the early part of the 20th century would have had a very different experience. Tom Wakefield was born in 1935, so his father would likely have been born no later than the early teens.

Although published after Mates, many of the themes explored appear to have been worked out in the short stories in Drifters (1984). Not being on the same page about commitment or 'settling down' appears in the stories, The Nature Lover and A Man to Share. In the short story Gypsies, John and his partner Alan discover that John’s nephew-in-law (his niece’s husband) plans to have them sleep in separate beds on different floors, because he can't handle the thought of them sleeping in the same bed.

Mates is a truly touching novel. Each chapter feels genuine and shows the gay experience over the course of nearly 30 years.

Denton and Me by Sam Rowe

Denton and Me

by Sam Rowe

Summerhall, Edinburgh: 3-28 August 2016

The Single Twin by Robert C. Ray

New York : Comet Press, 1959

The novel opens on a wintry Chicago night in the late 1950s outside an art gallery on Michigan Avenue. The owner is always afraid that he has forgotten to lock the door upon leaving. On this night he has and a stranger slowly takes in the images on the walls and comes to rest on the one titled, The Single Twin. The artist receives a letter from a high school friend and the novel then shifts into a lengthy flashback beginning in the spring of 1940 and continuing through the United States' entry into World War II.

Three students nearing graduation in Summitville, IN are in a love triangle. Artistic, Sam, whose parents died when he was young, lives with his grandmother and is gay. (It's his gallery show that opens the novel.) Velma lives with her mother, with whom she battles on a daily basis. Her father abandoned them when she was young. Velma's boyfriend, Ramon is a gypsy from the wrong side of the tracks and also has a very close relationship with Sam. Ramon wants to marry Velma to please his father and Velma needs to get married because she is pregnant by another man. After the wedding, this secret quickly causes the rapid destruction of the marriage.

Robert C. Ray (b. 1926)
Author of The Single Twin

Written very much in the style of sensational novels of the 1950s, it has a bit of everything: a lounge singer, secret pregnancies, interracial relationships, abandoned babies, a hermaphrodite, prostitution, a gay man, a mental hospital, alcoholism and incest. The storylines resolve a little too neatly, especially given the geographic coverage (small-town Indiana, St. Louis, Louisville, Louisiana and Europe during the war years). Even if it is a little too perfect, it's still a page turner. The Single Twin was either a very small print run or was published by what used to be termed a vanity press. Only four libraries whose holdings are in WorldCat have a copy, and other than the copy I read, there do not appear to be any copies for sale online.

Robert C. Ray was born in Elwood, Indiana in 1926, attended the John Herron  Art Institute after high school and is a professional painter and an interior decorator.

The Medici Boy by John L'Heureux

New York : Astor + Blue, 2013

Florence during the Renaissance had a significant homosexual culture built around age-structured relationships. To discourage this behavior, in 1432 the city formed Gli Ufficio della Notte (Officers of the Night), to prosecute cases against those involved. By 1502, when it was dissolved, an estimated 12,500 men had been charged in this court with an estimated 2500 convictions for sodomy. Although serious penalties were available by law (forced castration, being burning at the stake), most convictions from this court resulted in a fine.

Against this historical backdrop, John L'Heureux weaves together Donatello's creation of his famous bronze David and the political intrigue surrounding the battle between the Medici and Albizzi families. Told from the point of view of Luca Mattei, an assistant in his workshop, it is the story of Donatello's passion for his model (and part time prostitute), Agnolo, who frequently finds himself on the wrong side of the Officers of the Night. Donatello's friend and patron Cosimo de'Medici can use his power to assist, but when Rinaldo degli Albizzi gains the upper hand in their battle, who will help Agnolo?

Young Bathers by Georg Pauli

Young Bathers (1914)
Georg Pauli (Swedish, 1855-1935)
Nationalmuseum - Stockholm

The Gallery by John Horne Burns

New York : Harper & Brothers, 1947

The emotional center of Burns' first novel is the Galleria Umberto,  August 1944. At the heart of Naples, with it's bombed out skylights, it is the gathering place for Allied soldiers and Neapolitans trying to survive.

Named The Saturday Review of Literature's best war book of the year, The Gallery is organized into a series of portraits showing the experience of the average person in occupied Naples. 

The Gallery reads as a collection of short stories built around a place in time. Momma (the fifth portrait) is often included on lists of pre-Stonewall literature due to it's overt gay content. The owner of the bar where gays, and to a lesser degree, lesbians gather is owned by an Italian woman, they affectionately call Momma. What's unique about the story is that it incorporates all types and the fact that everyone is gay doesn't mean that there isn't overt racism and xenophobia among the soldiers for which Naples is not home. 

It would be a mistake, however, to read Momma as a standalone piece, since it's power resides in it's inclusion within the larger work. The Gallery paints a picture, not of The Greatest Generation, but of soldiers who bring their own prejudices to a situation they never wanted to be in.

Bibliographies & Ratings: Cory (IV [Momma]); Garde (Primary, *** [Momma]); Mattachine Review (IV [Momma]); Young (522)