List of lesbian fiction

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of lesbian-themed fiction. It includes books and plays. The lists of adult and of YA-appropriate works are split into separate headings.

To keep this list a manageable length, the list is confined to those works and authors who have been notable enough to merit Wikipedia pages in their own right.

Below the main list, the article also includes:

  • information on particularly prolific publishing subcultures like fanfiction and mysteries;
  • a list of lesbian and feminist publishing houses; and
  • a list of nonfiction works on this topic.

Works of lesbian fiction, in chronological order

Pre-1700

  • Symposium. By Plato. c. 300s BC. (There's a story about how all soulmate couples, including female-female couples, used to be joined into one two-faced body.)[1][a]
  • Dialogues of the Courtesans. By Lucian of Samosata. c. 100s AD. (A character Leaina confesses to having a relationship with another woman, Megilla.)
  • Epigrams. By Martial. c. 100s AD. (Contains satirical poems about a masculine lesbian character named Philaenis.)[2][3]: 98-99 
  • Waga mi ni tadoru himegimi (Japanese: わが身にたどる姫君) (The Princess in Search of Herself). Author unknown. c.1259-1276. (A passage in volume 6 describes a former priestess and her lady-in-waiting having sex.)[4]

1700-1799

1800-1899

1900-1949

1950-1999

2000-present

Young adult fiction

This section is intended for lesbian-themed fiction that is suitable in complexity and content for teenage readers. Since there is some variability in these individual judgments, a work being marketed under "YA" is sufficient to meet the criteria for inclusion. It can include novels, graphic novels, and plays.

Modern lesbian fiction subcultures

In addition to the ongoing publication of lesbian novels, plays, and stories, several lesbian publishing subcultures have emerged in modern times.

Fanfiction

Fanfiction writers have produced many works in which female characters from fictional sources (such as television shows, movies, video games, anime, manga or comic books) are paired in romantic, spiritual, or sexual relationships. The genre is known by a variety of terms, including femslash, saffic, yuri and f/f slash. Lesbian content in fanfiction dates at least to 1977, but has become more popular during the 1990s and 2000s.

Mystery series

There is also a thriving culture of mystery novels and series starring lesbian detectives. This includes lengthy mystery series by Kate Calloway, Cheryl A Head, Claire McNab, Mary Wings, Penny Mickelbury, Sarah Caudwell, Ellen Hart, Katherine V. Forrest, Laurie R. King, Manda Scott, Sandra Scoppettone, Lori L. Lake, J.M. Redmann, Amelia Ellis, Nikki Baker, Sarah Dreher, Stella Duffy, and Jessie Chandler, among many others.

Lesbian and feminist publishing houses

Further reading

Theses

See also

Notes

  1. [a]
    "[H]e begins by treating of the origin of human nature. The sexes were originally three, men, women, and the union of the two; and they were made round—having four hands, four feet, two faces on a round neck, and the rest to correspond. Terrible was their strength and swiftness; and they were essaying to scale heaven and attack the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils; the gods were divided between the desire of quelling the pride of man and the fear of losing the sacrifices. At last Zeus hit upon an expedient. Let us cut them in two, he said; then they will only have half their strength, and we shall have twice as many sacrifices. He spake, and split them as you might split an egg with an hair; and when this was done, he told Apollo to give their faces a twist and re-arrange their persons, taking out the wrinkles and tying the skin in a knot about the navel. The two halves went about looking for one another, and were ready to die of hunger in one another's arms. Then Zeus invented an adjustment of the sexes, which enabled them to marry and go their way to the business of life. Now the characters of men differ accordingly as they are derived from the original man or the original woman, or the original man-woman. Those who come from the man-woman are lascivious and adulterous; those who come from the woman form female attachments; those who are a section of the male follow the male and embrace him, and in him all their desires centre."

References

External links

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