Particular voices
Subtitle: portraits of gay and lesbian writers
By: Robert Giard.
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
Subjects: Authors, American -- 20th century -- Portraits; Gays' writings, American -- History and criticism -- Theory, etc; Homosexuality and literature -- United States; Gays -- United States -- Intellectual life; Lesbians -- United States -- Portraits; Gay men -- United States -- Portraits; Gays -- Literary collections
Description: In 1985, photographer Robert Giard set out to create an archive of portraits of gay and lesbian writers from across the United States. His intention was to present visible evidence of their presence in our culture, to attest to their particular voices. The result is the most extensive photographic record of the gay and lesbian literary community ever undertaken. This book contains 182 of the more than 500 portraits Giard has made.

The collection underscores the diversity of the gay population and encompasses a broad range of literary genres: fiction, poetry, drama, personal narrative, history, criticism, and political/activist statements.

In the book, each portrait faces an excerpt of the writer's work, chosen by Giard in consultation with the writer. Taken as a whole, the portraits and excerpts encompass the many-faceted history of the gay/lesbian experience in the United States over the past seventy-five years.

The book also features a foreword by Julia VanHaaften, Curator of Photographs at the New York Public Library; an introduction by Giard, "Self-Portrait of a Gay Reader"; an essay by Christopher Bram on gay writing; and an essay by Joan Nestle on lesbian writing.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [310]-320).