Richard Amory (October 18, 1927 – August 1, 1981), born Richard Wallace Love, was an American writer from Halfway, Oregon. He obtained a bachelor's degree in sociology from Ohio State University, a M.A. in Spanish from San Francisco State University, and began an uncompleted Ph.D. in Spanish at University of California, Berkeley.[1] A high school teacher by profession, he achieved success as a novelist in the late 1960s while still a graduate student and before coming out.[2]
Amory is best known for his 1966 novel Song of the Loon: A Gay Pastoral in Five Books and an Interlude and its sequels, including Song of Aaron and Listen, the Loon Sings.[3] Variously described as "a gay American version of famous sixteenth-century Spanish pastoral novels"[4] and "a gay version of The Last of the Mohicans,"[5] Song of the Loon has been called "one of the most important gay books of the 20th century."[6] In 1994 one bibliographer estimated that one third of American gay men had read the novel.[7]
Song of the Loon was adapted as an erotic film in 1970 without Amory's involvement and much to his disgust.[8] It also inspired a spoof, Fruit of the Loon by "Richard Armory" (in reality veteran porn writer George Davies who wrote under pen names including Clay Caldwell or Lance Lester).[9]
Amory briefly partnered with fellow authors Dirk Vanden, Phil Andros, Peter Tuesday Hughes, Larry Townsend, and Douglas Dean in an attempt to found the first all-gay publishing company, which was to be called The Renaissance Group. The group was unable to secure funding for the attempt and several of its members ceased publishing shortly thereafter.[10]
He died in San Jose, California.
Bibliography
edit- Song of the Loon (1966)
- Song of Aaron (1967)
- Listen, the Loon Sings (1968)
- A Handsome Young Man with Class (1969)
- Longhorn Drive (1969)
- Naked on Main Street (1969)
- Frost (1972)
- Willow Song (1974)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Cesar Love, "Biography of Richard Love," Song of the Loon (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2005), 215-17.
- ^ Jordan, Mark (2011). Recruiting Young Love: How Christians Talk about Homosexuality. University of Chicago Press. p. 109. ISBN 9780226410449. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ See Drewey Wayne Gunn, Gay American Novels, 1870-1970: A Reader's Guide (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2016), 152-54.
- ^ Beth M. Bouloukos, "Shepherds Redressed: Richard Amory's Song of the Loon and the Reinvigoration of the Spanish Pastoral Novel," 1960s Gay Pulp Fiction: The Misplaced Heritage, ed. Drewey Wayne Gunn and Jaime Harker (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013), 212-28.
- ^ Angelo d'Arcangelo, The Homosexual Handbook, 2nd ed. (Ophelia Press, 1969), 235. See also Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2001), 117; Neil DeWitte, "The Gay Western: Trailblazing Heroes Stake Their Claim," The Golden Age of Gay Fiction, ed. Drewey Wayne Gunn (Albion, NY: MLR Press, 2009), 224-27.
- ^ Monteagudo, Jesse (January 24, 2010). "Jesse's Journal: Gay Pulp Fiction". The Bilerico Project. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ Tom Norman, American Gay Erotic Paperbacks: A Bibliography (Burbank, CA, 1994), 3.
- ^ Vanden, Dirk (2012). It Was Too Soon Before…: The Unlikely Life, Untimely Death, and Unexpected Rebirth of Gay Pioneer, Dirk Vanden. Lethe Press. p. 154. ISBN 9781590213544. Retrieved 2014-09-24.
- ^ Kemp, Earl (June 2003). "2002 FAAn Awards". efanzines.com.
- ^ Gunn, Drewey Wayne (August 10, 2011). "Dirk Vanden: Pioneer Of Gay Literature". Lambda Literary Review. Retrieved 2014-09-24.