Chronicling the reality of 1950s lesbian life through Ann Bannon's dreamy butch, Beebo Brinker is an astounding and engaging read. Here we see the life of a butch, a woman with boyish features who wants to dress like a boy. This, the last book of the Beebo Brinker chronicles is really a prequel showing us the influences that shaped Beebo Brinker before the events of the first four novels. Sexy, dangerous, and often touching, Beebo Brinker's search for love takes her from password-protected 1950s lesbian bars to the glamour and ritz of Hollywood and back. Last in the Beebo Brinker series, a prequel. Overwhelmed with her discovery, Beebo is infatuated in turn with the vixen Mona Petry, the sweet femme Paula Ash, and the famous actress Venus Bogardus. She never knew what she wanted-until she came to Greenwich Village and found the love that smolders in the shadows of the twilight world. Befriended by the gay Jack Mann, a father-figure with a weakness for runaways, Beebo sets out to find love. With Beebo Brinker, Bannon introduces the title character, a butch 17-year-old farm girl newly arrived in New York after she is driven from her Wisconsin home town for wearing drag to the State Fair. Unlike many writers of the period, however, Bannon broke through the shame and isolation typically portrayed in lesbian pulps, offering instead women characters who embrace their sexuality against great odds. Designated the "Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction" for authoring five landmark novels beginning in 1957, Ann Bannon's work defined lesbian fiction for the pre-Stonewall generation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |