Charlotte the Useless Ghost

A few obvious starters: Stone Butch Blues by Les Feinberg; the Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel; Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. I think Nevada by Imogen Binnie might be another newer addition to the canon.

What other books are so iconic, classic, high-quality, and historically important that they deserve a place in the LGBT canon? I want your opinions.

Edit: To clarify, I am not asking for book recommendations to read. I have plenty of books on my reading list. I'm asking what books you consider to be "canon" like how everyone in America is expected to read the Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, 1984, etc. What's that but for LGBT books. What's the LGBT Canon of Books. The Zora Canon is a good example of what I'm working on building right now. I'm trying to build the Zora Canon but it's all LGBT books.

#lgbt #lgbtq+#lgbtqia+#books #lithost #Library stuff

You must log in to comment.

in reply to @shel's post:

Heather "hthrflwrs" Flowers @hthrflwrs12/12/2022, 9:23 PM

I know Bechdel's already on your radar, but I'd submit Fun Home as a literary canon book as well

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 1:24 AM

HMMMM Strong contender.

noah @mahalis12/12/2022, 9:49 PM

it might be too recent to count as classic/canonical but This Is How You Lose The Time War is really special

Dov @LivingDeadBear12/12/2022, 10:22 PM

The [F slurs] and their friends between revolutions

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 1:21 AM

Ooo yes good suggestion

@cofruitrigus12/12/2022, 10:45 PM

Maurice by E. M. Forster? I don't feel that I can speak to its influence but it's certainly old, for an explicitly gay novel. Also, Forster is a fairly notable author.

Misty @dog12/12/2022, 10:45 PM

Nothing will ever top Orlando for me. What if you wanted to write a novel about your girlfriend so you wrote a novel about a man who’s magically transed by the universe, and you keep having the narrator linger on all the parts of her you think are the hottest.

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 1:21 AM

Oh, yes, definitely

hk @hindsightee12/12/2022, 11:14 PM

One LGBT book that's old and stuffy enough to be considered literary canon already would be The Portrait of Dorian Gray. not to say "unproblematic", but all the same, a bona fide literary classic and a book where the central theme is about being gay.

Chaia Eran @ChaiaEran12/12/2022, 11:32 PM

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler, and Whipping Girl by Julia Serano.

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 1:22 AM

I got Whipping Girl on my list but Gender Trouble is another good suggestion.

Inumo @Inumo12/12/2022, 11:35 PM

Judith Butler's Gender Trouble has gotta be in there for non-fiction, right? Gender performativity has become such a constant of queer theory (even if the idea has evolved/changed since its 1990 formulation).

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 1:22 AM

Oh, definitely Gender Trouble

Upthorn @upthorn12/12/2022, 11:50 PM

As a cishet, it's probably not my place to make suggestions, but from among the works I've read, I'd nominate The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin.

Dependent, of course, on confirmation from someone who actually has expertise on LGBT issues.

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 1:24 AM

Y'know, as much as queer people love it, I'm not actually sure if it's an LGBT Book. I love that book, but LeGuin as far as anyone knows was a cishet woman.

Upthorn @upthorn12/13/2022, 2:05 AM

Sorry. I fundamentally misunderstood the concept of queer literature. I will go stand in the corner and think about what I've done.

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 2:32 AM

why are you being so self-flagellating?

Upthorn @upthorn12/13/2022, 2:39 AM

It was supposed to be funny...

But I do also have difficulty judging the size of my own mis-steps so I try to err on the side of assuming larger, rather than smaller.

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 2:45 AM

It mostly came off as concerning...

Upthorn @upthorn12/13/2022, 2:51 AM

Just embarrassed and critically failing to smooth it over...

j.u.n.e.@happylittlebush12/13/2022, 2:16 AM

when I came out someone made me read Gender Outlaws by Kate Bornstein and I think that's definitely a contender for the canon

jen is a cephalopod on the moon @jnszmk12/13/2022, 3:16 AM

Jeanette Winterson, Oranges are not the only Fruit. Audre Lorde Sister Outsider (if essays are allowed).

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 3:54 AM

If the essay exists in an essay collection that has been published in print then yes. If it only exists online, then like, I guess it could be canonical but not in a way useful to my purposes for asking the question, as a librarian. Like Hot Allostatic Load is definitely a part of the canon but I can't buy a copy for the library.

Fallible Algebra @fallible-algebra12/13/2022, 11:39 AM

Nevada is a classic, and Sisters of Dorley (by @badambulist, books: welcome to dorley hall, secrets of dorley hall) is an up and comer but it's so visceral and takes up so much space in my head (though specific to the UK trans experience, however I would argue Nevada is the same about the US in its specific slice of time)

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 8:10 PM

I unfortunately can't include Sisters of Dorley because it hasn't been published in the US at this time. Hopefully if it becomes a Timeless Classic there will be US printings so librarians like me can collect it.

wobble bopper @bungo12/13/2022, 7:45 PM

i'd pick the color purple by alice walker

Shel @shel12/13/2022, 8:06 PM

Oh, yes, good one

Andy H.@indeed-distract12/19/2022, 3:35 PM

How about Samuel R. Delany? It's not my favourite of his memoir, let alone his science fiction, but I feel like Times Square Red, Times Square Blue is probably the thing he's written with the clearest claim to canon. (Or alternately Dhalgren, which is probably more talked about but whose LGBT elements are probably less talked about when it is.)

D @pinstripeowl1/1/2023, 7:31 PM

Returning to this because I had it bookmarked to do so eventually, I feel like we'd need to recognise those writing around the AIDS epidemic - something like Close to the Knives (David Wojnarowicz).