Nothing Ever Just Disappears: Seven Hidden Queer Histories

This incisive chronicle from Cambridge University historian Hester (Wrong) examines the “significance of place” in the lives of queer artists. Exploring the Cambridge grounds once trod by E.M. Forster as a student there in the early 20th century, Hester suggests that the vogue for Hellenic ideals in British academia at the time brought renewed attention to ancient Greeks’ approval of love between men, influencing Forster’s depiction of “a place where [gay] relationships could be conducted without shame and without secrecy” in his novel Maurice, first published in 1971. Elsewhere, Hester suggests that the permissive culture in 1920s Paris allowed singer Josephine Baker to explore her bisexuality and that San Francisco’s Small Press Traffic book store served as a hub for the New Narrative movement of the 1970s and ’80s, which included such poets as Kevin Killian and Robert Glück. Hester’s evocative prose brings the locales to vivid life (he describes 1909 London, which served as the backdrop for producer Edith Craig and playwright Cicely Hamilton’s “radical feminist theatre” work, as marked by traffic “moving arrhythmically forward in spurts” and the “thick, pervasive aroma of sour horsedung”), and he offers keen insight into works by some of the 20th century’s most notable queer artists. The result is a scintillating investigation of the intersection between environment, creativity, and identity. Photos. Agent: Matthew Marland, RCW Literary. (Feb.)