The First Gay American Novel: A Forgotten Book by Sarah Orne Jewett

Tuesday, October 16

Sponsored by the Program in Women’s History 

5:30pm: Reception

6:00pm: Talk by Dr. Don James Brown, Assistant Professor of 19th-Century American Literature at the University of Tulsa

What was the first gay American novel? The popularity of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, and Hanya Yanagihara’s recent sensation A Little Life indicate the deep personal connection people feel with LGBT fiction. In this talk, Dr. Brown will make the case that A Marsh Island (1885), the little-known novel by the Maine-based writer Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909), should be considered the first novel in the genre.