dalam perkembangannya, diabad ke 21 kita mengenal karya sastra yang dikategorikan kedalam karya sastra modern. karya sastra ini memiliki keseragaman dalam memakai "stream of conciousness" atau aliran kesadaran dalam karya sastra yang ia tulis dan juga "inner monologue", yang mana kedua hal ini mengindikasikan bahwa penulis secara sadar menulis tentang diriinya. sehubungan dengan hal tersebut, banyak penulis yang terkenal pernah menuliskan atau membuat karya sastra (novel, puisi atau cerpen ) dengan tema sentral homoseksual. kebnyakan dari mereka para penulis ini ternyata menuliskan tentang dirinya sendiri yang (pernah memiliki riwayat sebagai seseorang dengan orientasi seksual gay atau lesbian), berikut beberapa dari penulis tersebut:
1. Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), poet, was born on 8 February 1911
in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father died before her first birthday, and her mother
suffered a series of nervous collapses and was committed to a mental hospital when Bishop
was five, thus being permanently removed from the life of her only child. From ages three
to six, Bishop lived in Great Village, Nova Scotia, with her mother's parents, and was
then taken in by her father's family in Worcester and Boston. She attended Walnut Hill
School near Boston during her high-school years, followed by four years at Vassar. By way
of the Vassar librarian, in New York Bishop met the poet Marianne Moore, twenty-four years
her senior, and their friendship quickly flourished. Her earliest work, which was
influenced by George Herbert, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Moore, appeared in the Vassar
undergraduate magazine she had helped to found. Having briefly considered a career in
medicine, she turned to poetry with the encouragement of Moore, who published a handful of
her poems in an anthology called Trial Balances in 1935. In residence in New York
for a year, she wrote her first mature poems, including "The Map" and "The
Man-Moth." She then lived intermittently in Europe for three years before purchasing
a house in Key West, Florida, in 1938. After being rejected by several New York
publishers, the first of her four volumes of poetry, North and South, was finally
published in 1946. The next year she was introduced by Randall Jarrell to Robert Lowell,
who became a lifelong friend.
In 1951, the geographical displacement in her life continued when she took ill on a
trip to South America; left behind by a freighter in Brazil, she made that country her
home for the next eighteen years. Her lesbian relationship with Lota de Macedo Soares gave
her life stability and love, and she established residences in Rio de Janeiro, nearby
Petrópolis, and, later, Ouro Prêto. A Cold Spring, her second volume of poetry,
appeared in 1955. Brazil became the setting for many of the poems that were collected a
decade later in Questions of Travel (1965).
After the suicide of Lota de Macedo Soares, Bishop increasingly began to live in the
United States, and became poet-in-residence at Harvard University in 1969. A close
friendship with Alice Methfessel began in 1971 and continued until the time of Bishop's
death in 1979. Her final poetry volume, Geography III, was published in 1976, Bishop often spent many years writing a single poem, working toward an effect of
offfhandedness and spontaneity. Committed to a "passion for accuracy," she
re-created her worlds of Canada, America, Europe, and Brazil. Shunning self-pity, the
poems thinly conceal her estrangements as a woman, a lesbian, an orphan, a geographically
rootless traveler, a frequently hospitalized asthmatic, and a sufferer of depression and
alcoholism. "I'm not interested in big-scale work as such," she once told
Lowell. "Something needn't be large to be good."
Manuscript holdings are at the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the Rosenbach
Museum and Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Vassar College Library; and the
Washington University Libraries.
From The Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing in the United States.
Copyright © 1995 by Oxford University Press.
2. Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) was an American playwright and author of many stage classics. Along with Eugene O'neill and Arthur Miller he is considered among the three foremost playwrights in 20th century American drama.
After years of obscurity, he became suddenly famous with The Glass Menagerie (1944), closely reflecting his own unhappy family background. This heralded a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending, and Sweet Bird of Youth.
His later work attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences,
and alcohol and drug dependence further inhibited his creative output.
His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on the short list of being among the finest American plays in the 20th century alongside Long Day's Journey into Night and Death of a Salesman. Williams adapted much of his best work for the cinema, and also wrote
short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four
years before his death, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
After some early attempts at heterosexual relationships, by the late 1930s Williams had accepted his homosexuality. In New York he joined a gay social circle which included fellow writer and close friend Donald Windham
(1920–2010) and his then partner Fred Melton. In the summer of 1940
Williams initiated an affair with Kip Kiernan (1918–1944), a young
Canadian dancer he met in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
When Kiernan left him to marry a woman he was distraught, and Kiernan's
death four years later at 26 delivered another heavy blow.
On a 1945 visit to Taos, New Mexico,
Williams met Pancho Rodríguez y González, a hotel clerk of Mexican
heritage. Rodríguez was, by all accounts, a loving and loyal companion.
However, he was also prone to jealous rages and excessive drinking, and
so the relationship was a tempestuous one. Nevertheless, in February
1946 Rodríguez left New Mexico to join Williams in his New Orleans
apartment. They lived and traveled together until late 1947 when
Williams ended the affair. Rodríguez and Williams remained friends,
however, and were in contact as late as the 1970s.
Williams spent the spring and summer of 1948 in Rome in the company of a teenaged Italian boy, called "Rafaello" in Williams' Memoirs,
to whom he provided financial assistance for several years afterwards, a
situation which planted the seed of Williams' first novel The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone.
When he returned to New York that spring, he met and fell in love with
Frank Merlo (1922–1963), an occasional actor of Sicilian heritage who
had served in the U.S. Navy in World War II.
3. NATALIE CLIFFORD BARNEY
Natalie Clifford Barney (October 31, 1876 – February 2, 1972) was an American playwright, poet and novelist who lived as an expatriate in Paris.
Barney's salon was held at her home on Paris' Left Bank for more than 60 years and brought together writers and artists from around the world, including many leading figures in French literature along with American and British Modernists of the Lost Generation. She worked to promote writing by women and formed a "Women's Academy" (L'Académie des Femmes) in response to the all-male French Academy while also giving support and inspiration to male writers from Remy de Gourmont to Truman Capote.
She was openly lesbian and began publishing love poems to women under her own name as early as 1900, considering scandal as "the best way of getting rid of nuisances" (meaning heterosexual attention from young males). In her writings she supported feminism and pacifism. She opposed monogamy and had many overlapping long and short-term relationships, including on-and-off romances with poet Renée Vivien and dancer Armen Ohanian and a 50-year relationship with painter Romaine Brooks. Her life and love affairs served as inspiration for many novels, ranging from the salacious French bestseller Sapphic Idyll to The Well of Loneliness, arguably the most famous lesbian novel of the 20th century.
Natalie Clifford Barney (October 31, 1876 – February 2, 1972) was an American playwright, poet and novelist who lived as an expatriate in Paris.
Barney's salon was held at her home on Paris' Left Bank for more than 60 years and brought together writers and artists from around the world, including many leading figures in French literature along with American and British Modernists of the Lost Generation. She worked to promote writing by women and formed a "Women's Academy" (L'Académie des Femmes) in response to the all-male French Academy while also giving support and inspiration to male writers from Remy de Gourmont to Truman Capote.
She was openly lesbian and began publishing love poems to women under her own name as early as 1900, considering scandal as "the best way of getting rid of nuisances" (meaning heterosexual attention from young males). In her writings she supported feminism and pacifism. She opposed monogamy and had many overlapping long and short-term relationships, including on-and-off romances with poet Renée Vivien and dancer Armen Ohanian and a 50-year relationship with painter Romaine Brooks. Her life and love affairs served as inspiration for many novels, ranging from the salacious French bestseller Sapphic Idyll to The Well of Loneliness, arguably the most famous lesbian novel of the 20th century.
4. HERMAN JOACHIM BANG
Herman Joachim Bang (20 April 1857 – 29 January 1912) was a Danish author,one of the men of the Modern Breakthrough. Bang was born into a noble family of Asserballe, on the small Danish island of Als, the son of a South Jutlandic vicar (a relative of N. F. S. Grundtvig). His family history was marked by insanity and disease.
When he was twenty he published two volumes of critical essays on the realistic movement. In 1880 he published his novel Haabløse Slægter (Families Without Hope), which aroused immediate attention. The main character was a young man who had a relationship with an older woman. The book was considered obscene at the time and was banned. After some time spent in travel and a successful lecture tour of Norway and Sweden, he settled in Copenhagen and produced a series of novels and collections of short stories which placed him in the front rank of Scandinavian novelists. Among his more famous stories are Fædra (1883) and Tine (Tina, 1889).
The latter won for its author the friendship of Henrik Ibsen and the enthusiastic admiration of Jonas Lie. Among his other works are Det hvide Hus (The White House, 1898), Excentriske Noveller (Eccentric Stories, 1885), Stille Eksistenser (Quiet Existences, 1886), Liv og Død (Life and Death, 1899), Englen Michael (The Angel Michael, 1902), a volume of poems (1889), and recollections, Ti Aar (Ten Years, 1891). Bang was homosexual, a fact which contributed to his isolation in the cultural life of Denmark and made him the victim of smear campaigns. He lived most of his life with his sister but found happiness for a few years with the German actor Max Eisfeld (1863–1935), with whom he lived in Prague in 1885-86. Uninterested in politics, he was distant from most of his colleagues in the naturalist movement.
Herman Joachim Bang (20 April 1857 – 29 January 1912) was a Danish author,one of the men of the Modern Breakthrough. Bang was born into a noble family of Asserballe, on the small Danish island of Als, the son of a South Jutlandic vicar (a relative of N. F. S. Grundtvig). His family history was marked by insanity and disease.
When he was twenty he published two volumes of critical essays on the realistic movement. In 1880 he published his novel Haabløse Slægter (Families Without Hope), which aroused immediate attention. The main character was a young man who had a relationship with an older woman. The book was considered obscene at the time and was banned. After some time spent in travel and a successful lecture tour of Norway and Sweden, he settled in Copenhagen and produced a series of novels and collections of short stories which placed him in the front rank of Scandinavian novelists. Among his more famous stories are Fædra (1883) and Tine (Tina, 1889).
The latter won for its author the friendship of Henrik Ibsen and the enthusiastic admiration of Jonas Lie. Among his other works are Det hvide Hus (The White House, 1898), Excentriske Noveller (Eccentric Stories, 1885), Stille Eksistenser (Quiet Existences, 1886), Liv og Død (Life and Death, 1899), Englen Michael (The Angel Michael, 1902), a volume of poems (1889), and recollections, Ti Aar (Ten Years, 1891). Bang was homosexual, a fact which contributed to his isolation in the cultural life of Denmark and made him the victim of smear campaigns. He lived most of his life with his sister but found happiness for a few years with the German actor Max Eisfeld (1863–1935), with whom he lived in Prague in 1885-86. Uninterested in politics, he was distant from most of his colleagues in the naturalist movement.
5. MABEL MANEY
is an artist and author from San Francisco, California known
for her lesbian pulp fiction. She is the author of the Nancy Clue
series, a lesbian parody of the Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, and Hardy Boys
series. More recently, she is the author of the "Jane Bond" novels, a
series of parodies of James Bond. Mabel's short fiction can also be
found the humor anthology "May Contain Nuts".
Maney is famous for the quote "For a long time I thought I wanted to be a
nun. Then I realized that what I really wanted to be was a lesbian." Mabel was born in New Jersey. Her family moved to the midwest where she was educated and permanently scarred by dour nuns. She was one of five children in an Irish Catholic family in Appleton, Wisconsin where she worked in her family's paper hat factory. She graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from San Francisco State University. Her MFA thesis explored the subtext of novels featuring 1940s heroine Nurse Cherry Ames.
6. JAMES ROBERT BAKERJames Robert Baker (October 18, 1946 – November 5, 1997) was an American author of sharply satirical, predominantly gay-themed transgressional fiction. A native Californian, his work is set almost entirely in Southern California. After graduating from UCLA, he began his career as a screenwriter, but became disillusioned and started writing novels instead. Though he garnered fame for his books Fuel-Injected Dreams and Boy Wonder, after the controversy surrounding publication of his novel, Tim and Pete, he faced increasing difficulty having his work published. According to his life partner, this was a contributing factor in his suicide.
Baker's work has achieved cult status in the years since his death, and
two additional novels have been posthumously published. First-edition
copies of his earlier works have become collector's items. His novel
Testosterone was adapted to a film of the same name, though it was not a
financial success. Two other books have been optioned for films, but
they have not been produced.
Baker was born in Long Beach, California and raised in what he considered a "stifling, Republican Southern Californian household". Rebelling against his parents, he became attracted to the fringe elements of society, including beatniks (anyone living as a bohemian, acting rebelliously, or appearing to advocate a revolution in manners), artists and gays. In high school during the 1960s he explored his sexuality at underground gay teen nightclubs, while living in fear that his abusive father would find out. At one point, his father hired a private detective to follow him, when he suspected Baker was having an affair with a male neighbor. This family dynamic would be used in many of his novels, most extensively in Boy Wonder.
Baker was born in Long Beach, California and raised in what he considered a "stifling, Republican Southern Californian household". Rebelling against his parents, he became attracted to the fringe elements of society, including beatniks (anyone living as a bohemian, acting rebelliously, or appearing to advocate a revolution in manners), artists and gays. In high school during the 1960s he explored his sexuality at underground gay teen nightclubs, while living in fear that his abusive father would find out. At one point, his father hired a private detective to follow him, when he suspected Baker was having an affair with a male neighbor. This family dynamic would be used in many of his novels, most extensively in Boy Wonder.
7. Alex Au Waipang
(Chinese: 区伟鹏) also known by his Internet nom de plume as Yawning Bread, is part of the Singapore gay equality movement.He is the author of a website, where he provides analyses of Singaporean politics, culture, gay issues and miscellaneous subjects. He is also the co-author of two books, People Like Us: Sexual Minorities in Singapo and a French-language treatise on homophobia entitled L'Homophobie.
Au, English-educated and of Cantonese descent, was born in Singapore in 1952. He attended the Anglo-Chinese School for his primary and secondary education and obtained his tertiary degree from the National University of Singapore. After graduation, he worked in a managerial position at a British
multinational corporation before branching out on his own as the
proprietor of several business catering to the gay community, as well as
freelance writing.
He was one of the founding members, along with Joseph Lo and Dr. Russell Heng, of Singapore's main gay equality lobby group People Like Us,
and also the founder and list owner of the Singapore Gay News List
(SiGNeL), the first discussion forum for Singapore's gay community.In 2002, he was presented with the Utopia award for outstanding contributions towards the advancement of gay equality in Asia.
In July 2003, Au was identified by the now-defunct Channel i as a gay
activist. His views were solicited in the wake of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's recent announcement that the hiring of gays in the civil service would henceforth be liberalized.In the run-up to the 2006 Singapore general election, Au provided extensive coverage of the opposition parties' rallies which were attended by overwhelming crowds.
Au used his connections with People Like Us and with leading practitioners in the local gay arts scene to organize IndigNation, Singapore's first gay pride month in 2005 and Short Circuit, Singapore's first gay film festival in 2006. In July 2012, the attorney general's chambers wrote to Alex Au, now a
prominent blogger and gay rights activist, demanding that he take down
and apologize for a June 2012 post in his Yawning Bread blog that
criticized the judiciary for showing deference to the executive. Au
promptly removed the post.
