Lesbian American Fiction before WWII
Explore a curated list of groundbreaking American lesbian fiction books published before WWII. Discover early LGBTQ+ literature and iconic works that shaped queer storytelling in the 20th century.
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Three Lives
by Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein, as a college student at Radcliffe and a medical student at Johns Hopkins Medical School, was a privileged woman, but she was surrounded …
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Ladies Almanack
by Djuna Barnes
Barnes's affectionate lampoon of the expatriate lesbian community in Paris was privately printed in 1928. Arranged by month, it records the life and loves of …
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Bryher
by Bryher
"Highly readable. ... Offers rare insights into gay life in the first quarter of the twentieth century."â€" Diana Collecott, University of Durham, author of H.D. …
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HERmione
by Hilda Doolittle
An autobiographical novel tells of a college girl driven to a nervous breakdown by conflicting aspects of her personality.
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Nightwood
by Djuna Barnes
Nightwood is the story of Robin Vote and those she destroys: her husband "Baron" Felix Volkbein and their child Guido, and the two women who …
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Quicksand and Passing
by Nella Larsen
Two novels of 1920s Harlem describe Helga Crane's search for freedom and personal expression, and Irene's friendship with Clare, who attempts to pass for white.
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Work
by Louisa May Alcott
A story about a nineteenth-century woman’s search for a meaningful life through work outside the family sphere, Work is at once Alcott’s exploration of her …
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Two Friends and Other 19th-century American Lesbian Stories
by Various
Comprising eleven short stories by such 19th-century American writers as Sarah Orne Jewett, Kate Chopin, and Mary E. Wilkins, this breakthrough anthology celebrates a rich …