Madeline Miller’s 2011 hit The Song of Achillesis a moving queer retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of young prince Patroclus that simultaneously reflects pride in same-sex relationships (Achilles remains adamant throughout that he and Patroclus be seen together) and modern anxieties about romantic relationships and masculinity – how men can be gentle, how to manage family expectations.īut being queer wasn’t always coded as different, and many myths don’t require retelling: even before the printed word, ancient mythology and religious narratives were rife with romantic and sexual engagements between people of the same gender. Here, we take a look at the evolution of queer fiction across the ages – for brevity’s sake, focusing on the Western world – and what it reflects about that moment in history, from Sappho, to Stonewall, and beyond. Their stories have often, but not always, been marginalised, but they have always said something about the era in which they were first told or published. Fiction tells us so much about the time we live in – and LGBTQ+ writers have been writing since the early days of literature.
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