21 Variations on a Theme

by Donald Webster Cory

Twenty-one unusual short stories from the pre-1950 era that touch upon the theme of same-sex attraction.

1. Sherwood Anderson: Hands
2. Isabel Bolton: Ruth and Irma
3. Paul Bowles: Pages from Cold Point
4. John Horne Burns: Momma
5. Richard Burton: Abu Nowas and the Three Boys
6. James T. Farrell: A Casual Incident
7. Christopher Isherwood: On Ruegen Island
8. Charles Jackson: Palm Sunday
9. Henry James: The Pupil
10. Stanley Kauffmann: Fulvous Yellow
11. D. H. Lawrence: The Prussian Officer
12. Wilson Lehr: No Competition
13. Guy de Maupassant: Paul's Mistress
14. Naomi Mitchison: Take Back Your Bay Wreath
15. Mark Schorer: Long in Populous City Pent
16. Stephen Spender: The Burning Cactus
17. Paul Verlaine: Charles Husson
18. Denton Welch: When I Was Thirteen
19. Wm. Carlos Williams: The Knife of the Times
20. Stefan Zweig: The Confusion of Sentiment
21. Anonymous: The Priest and the Acolyte

436 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Donald Webster Cory is the pen name of Edward Sagarin, a professor of criminology and sociology at the City University of New York and author in 1951 of a groundbreaking study of homosexuality in the United States.

Reviews

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

How did Western writers first approach the subject of same-sex attraction? These short stories, collected (and in some cases, translated) by Donald Webster Corey, give modern readers a fascinating glimpse of gay life before 1950. Three of the stories are about lesbians, the others, gay men. Here I'll add a few remarks about each:

1. Hands - Ohio, USA, ca 1919; a naive man with nervous "jazz hands" has a hidden past.
2. Ruth and Irma - 1920's American ex-pats loll at a resort in southern France with their curious fellow vacationers.
3. Pages from Cold Point - A Canadian recently moved to a Caribbean island tries to dismiss a mounting scandal involving his teenage son.
4. Momma - Excerpt from the book "The Gallery." An Italian woman opens a bar in wartime Naples that attracts the kinds of service boys she dotes on. The story provides a significant insight into how the Allied armed forces inadvertently mediated the creation and dissemination of a Western gay male culture. A lesbian service member, local Italian gays and a salting of straight servicemen add an interesting spike to the denizens of "Momma's" bar.
5. Abu Nowas - Richard Burton translates a tale from the 1001 Arabian Nights that normally doesn't see the light of day.
6. A Casual Incident - Chicago, 1934. A four-page study in missed signals.
7. On Ruegen Island - Weimar Germany. A writer chronicles the unwinding of his British friend's relationship with a 16-year old boy from Berlin and asks which of the two had better judgment.
8. Palm Sunday - Northern USA, ca 1920. A town's tortured relationship with its brilliant but horny choir master comes to light as two brothers, now living in New Jersey after the end of World War II, muse about their sheltered adolescence.
9. The Pupil - Europe, ca 1890. Wealthy American parents in declining circumstances appear to want to offload their teenage son onto his young live-in teacher in an allusive tale that manages to say it without saying it.
10. Fulvous Yellow - New York, 1940s. A straight father deals with a dawning realization in a visit to his fashion designer son.
11. The Prussian Officer - Germany, early 1900s. A military officer has control issues.
12. No Competition - New York, 1940s. A Minnesota girl misses all the signs about an old classmate now living in the city.
13. Paul's Mistress - France, ca 1880. Who's responsible for this young man's ruin, a merry boatload of lesbians or his own damn attitude?
14. Take Back Your Bay Wreath - Historical drama with a simple message of loyalty.
15. Long in Populous City Pent - American Midwest, 1920s. Two Bohemians, male and female, rent a house for the summer and befriend a 13-year-old boy. The boy witnesses a great upheaval when a third person, a male acquaintance of theirs, shows up at the couple's house. Only as an adult can the boy make sense of what happened. This story is interesting for way an apparently straight author characterizes the two men.
16. The Burning Cactus - Spain, ca 1935. A German hotel worker moves to Barcelona to cook for a wealthy Englishman. This complex story focuses on the recognizably fascistic manner in which the German man's thoughts churn, although the story doesn't touch on politics and the man is obsessed with himself, not the outside world. But it appears some people just can't take yes for an answer.
17. Charles Husson - France, late 1800s. Tables turned on a trollop.
18. When I Was Thirteen - Switzerland, 1930s. An English boy on vacation can't figure out why his older brother shuns an Oxford classmate staying at the same hotel. We all know where this is headed.
19. The Knife and the Times - Northern USA, 1940s. The relationship between two high school girls intensifies over their adult years as the letters from one of them become more and more frank.
20. The Confusion of Sentiment - Germany, ca 1870. At about 60 pages, this is the longest of the short stories, and also the most intense. A young student is taken under the wing of an older professor. But what is it about the professor and his wife, and why is he so reticent about his past? And if the student isn't gay, can he really be entirely straight? This is a well composed story whose author uses his mastery of language to take readers from a vague to an ultimately frank and powerful account of a 19th century life.
21. The Priest and the Acolyte - England, ca 1890. It reads like cotton candy. Oscar Wilde said it was dreck.

Most of these short stories are good or really good. Given the unusual nature of this book and its historical importance, this short story collection rates five stars.