Suitable for a range of readers, including students and scholars in the fields of American literature, film, and gay studies, this book challenges widely held assumptions about postwar gay male culture and politics.

First published in 1932, A Scarlet Pansy is an extraordinarily vivid and richly textured depiction of American queer life in the early twentieth century, tracing the coming-of-age of androgynous Fay Etrange. Born in small-town Pennsylvania and struggling with her difference, Fay eventually accepts her gender and sexual nonconformity and immerses herself in the fairy subculture of New York City. A self-proclaimed "oncer"--never tricking with same man twice--she immerses herself in the nightclubs, theaters, and street life of...

First published in 1932, A Scarlet Pansy is an extraordinarily vivid and richly textured depiction of American queer life in the early twentieth century, tracing the coming-of-age of androgynous Fay Etrange. Born in small-town Pennsylvania and struggling with her difference, Fay eventually accepts her gender and sexual nonconformity and immerses herself in the fairy subculture of New York City. A self-proclaimed "oncer"--never tricking with same man twice--she immerses herself in the nightclubs, theaters, and street life of...