The Gay & Lesbian Review

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To call Robert Craft Stravinsky’s
“amanuensis,” as Mr. Corn does, is a
gross misrepresentation, but to insinuate
that he was a parasite is unspeakable.
Robert Bass, Galveston, TX
Overlooked Obituaries
To the Editor:
I much admire Martha Stone’s remem-
brances of the year’s deceased GLBT no-
tables [Jan.-Feb. issue], and I realize it’s
impossible to include them all. But as
someone who’s also involved with this
magazine, I’d like to add a few names that
were not included.
Lou Reed deserves mention for his
groundbreaking body of work and self-
presentation that defied convention even
in the glitter rock days. He may have died
as a heterosexually married man, but I
think until the day he died he would have
insisted on eschewing labels, and he never
backtracked on how he lived his life—or
how it was perceived by the public.
Catherine Nicholson was a co-founder
of Sinister Wisdom, an early lesbian femi-
nist journal that has published continu-
ously for 37 years and has published most
of the prominent lesbian literary figures
we know today.
Finally, Julia Penelope, one of the first
publicly out lesbians, died in January
2013. She was an activist, a scholar, an
author, and a philosopher. Julia’s work
could be serious or funny, personal or po-
litical. Her work was original and often
cited and built upon by lesbians who came
after her. For a great read and an introduc-
tion to her work, I recommend Found
Goddesses: Asphalta to Viscera.
Diane Ellen Hamer, Melrose, Mass.
A Grittier Take on Rechy’s Significance
To the Editor:
Regarding Mark Merlis’ “mixed ver-
dict” on the literary significance of John
Rechy’s City of Night [Jan.-Feb. issue], I
respectfully disagree. Even the title, City
of Night, captured our attention. He told a
story many of us lived. And, he told it in
the only way he was able to. We who
prowled those dark streets at the time
would not have read a highfalutin work by
some polished writer whom we would
suspect did not know what he was talking
about. The reason he was read (twice in
my case) was that he rang true. We recog-
nized our own lives in the experiences and
characters he described.
Who better to judge City of Night than
one of us sleazy sluts who were aficiona-
dos of the “baths after-hours”—not just
after the bars closed, not after fold had
had a very early breakfast, not even after
the queens had finally arrived, “gotten
theirs,” and gone home. Rather, after all
of that, when a half-dozen or so denizens
stayed on in order to ravish some sweet,
naïve young thing who had stuck around
to see what would happen next?
Another literary critic pontificated that
“The Great American Novel was written
by a long daisy chain of failed queers.” I
would include City of Night on the chain.
For whatever grammatical flaws Rechy
may have committed, he drew an honest
portrait of our world. In my opinion, that
picture is worth more than all of Shake-
speare only because it is of “my world”
rather than the Bard’s.
John Kavanaugh, Detroit
Correction
An “Artist’s Profile” on director Joshua
Sanchez, who’s interviewed about his
movie Four (Jan.-Feb. 2014), stated incor-
rectly that the movie was based on
Christopher Shinn’s play Dying City. In
fact, the film was based on Shinn’s play
by the same name, Four.
March–April 2014 7
John Burton Harter. Self-Portrait. 1992. Oil
on panel. University of Buffalo — The State
University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.
John Burton Harter. Torso (Arms in Tension). 1979. Acrylic on board.
University of Buffalo — The State University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.
John Burton Harter Charitable Trust
•
John Burton Harter (1940-2002) is remembered for
his powerful studies of the male figure, as well as his
superb portraits and landscapes.
The John Burton Harter Charitable Trust preserves,
publishes, and exhibits Harter’s work while funding
nonprofit endeavors related to the artist’s interests.