Novel Approaches to Lesbian History

“With wit and verve, Linda Garber shows how lesbian historical fiction fills in the lacunae that the imagination craves—and that historians, limited to documented evidence, cannot produce... a wonderfully entertaining read." 

--Lillian Faderman, author of Surpassing the Love of Men, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, and To Believe in Women  

“Garber captures the urgent need we have to find our woman-loving selves in the past, in a crisp lesbian literary history full of pride, passion, and charm. At the same time, she calls to account the places where the work has been inauthentic.  You'll finish Garber's book clutching a very long fiction reading list!” 

--Jewelle Gomez, author of The Gilda Stories 

“A study of the fascinating genre of lesbian historical fiction is long overdue, and Garber’s is insightful and highly readable.” 

--Emma Donohue, author of Room,The Pull of the Stars, Life Mask, and The Sealed Letter 

Novel Approaches to Lesbian History tells a tale about history and community in our allegedly post-identity era, examining contemporary novels that depict lesbian characters in recognizable historical situations.  These imaginative stories provide a politically vital, speculative past in the face of a sketchy, problematic archive.  Among the memorable characters in some 200 novels are pirates, cowgirls, and famous artists, ghosts and time travellers, immigrants and lovers.  The best lesbian historical novels are conscientious and buoyant as they engage critical historiographical questions, but Novel Approaches also discusses the class and race biases that weigh on the genre.  Some lesbian historical novels are based on archival evidence, others on conjecture or fantasy, but all convey the true fact that identity is elusive without a past, withoutwhich its future is nearly impossible. 

Linda Garber is the author of Identity Poetics: Race, Class, and the Lesbian-Feminist Roots of Queer Theory and Lesbian Sources: A Bibliography of Periodical Articles, and the editor of Tilting the Tower: Lesbians/Teaching/Queer Subjects.  She is Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Santa Clara University, USA.