The Homosexual Villain
Mailer's essay on the stock use of homosexual characters as villains in fiction — and a reckoning with his own prejudice — written as the cover feature for the January 1955 issue of One: The Homosexual Magazine. Mailer later called it "the bravest thing I ever did."
“The Homosexual Villain.” One: The Homosexual Magazine, January 1955, 8–12.
An essay confronting the convention of the homosexual character as villain, and Mailer’s own prior prejudice. In his later commentary on the piece (61.3), Mailer acknowledges his past homophobia and says it “was the bravest thing I ever did, because it was done out of a dim, dull sense of duty”.
Rpt: Advertisements for Myself (59.13); 13.1; 14.3.
Related pages
- 1955 | One: The Homosexual Magazine
- Advertisements for Myself
- An Interview with Norman Mailer (61.3) | The Mind of an Outlaw: Selected Essays of Norman Mailer (13.1)