A
Fragile Union : New & Selected Writings by
Joan Nestle
A rich new collection by poet, historian, and
lesbian activist Joan Nestle, ranging from meditations on her
femme identity to arguments for a diversified college curriculum.
Cofounder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, which were housed for
20 years in her New York apartment, Nestle has made no clear
division between her erotic and her political writings, a stance
that has irritated many feminists. The archive itself is a
ceaseless, passionate response to the first time that Nestle ever
tried to "find out about" herself by writing a high
school paper on homosexuality. She began her research at the New
York Public Library, and in the card catalog "found the word Homosexual,
followed by a dash and the words, see Deviancy, and next to
this, see Pathology, with suggested subcategories of
prisons and mental institutions." Her inclusive sensibilities
have informed the acquisition policies of the archive, which has
collected everything from pulp novels of the 1940s and 1950s to
the diary of a lesbian prostitute to the pasties of a lesbian
stripper. "If we ask decorous questions of history,"
Nestle argues, "we will get a genteel history."
Essential reading in the social history of postwar America and the
particular struggles of lesbians to be included in that history. --Regina
Marler
Women
on Women 3 : A New Anthology of American Lesbian Fiction by
Joan Nestle (Editor), Naomi Holoch (Editor)
Before i read this book .. i felt lost and
curious at the same time . I knew that I had feelings for women ,
just as i had taught myself to "act" like i felt for men
. I came across " Women on Women 3" on a road trip to
Maine with some friends of mine . I was only 17 . So , i stayed up
one night, the same day i bought the book , and read all night .
Each story spoke to me , and i had come to this grand realization
that i was in fact a lesbian. It was as though a little light in
my head was turned on ! I carried the book to my chest with me
everywhere . I couldn't have been more happy . When i came home
though , it was a different story . I had left my book lying on
the stair case. My mother; with her air of reverent grace that
seems to follow her about , took one look at the book , and threw
it away . I never saw my book again , and living in the small town
that i do , it is close to impossible to find any lesbian
literature . So I wrote this.. I feel that now I can not mourn the
loss of it .. but now I can be blessed with the knowledge that
someone who is searching for their 'identity' can read this , and
know that there is one great book out there too look to... --
Anonymous Review
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