detail and frankness still new homosexual literature.

to

To me Totempole's greatest fault is what I consider a lack of balance. Stephen is much more interesting at eighteen or twenty-two than he is at two, or six, or nine, yet the greater part of the novel is devoted to these early years. Of course, it is only in the total collection that this imbalance becomes noticeable. As separate stories each would have been perfect in itself. Much, much too much

space

to the drama of is given Stephen's traumatic experiences with masturbation. True, realistic, and nostalgically painful as this episode may be it is too long in proportion to the novel as a whole.

This is a fascinating book no matter what one's own sexual orientation. It is a landmark both in the destruction of the "gay novel," and an important step toward the creation of a literature about homosexuals.

MARCEL MARTIN

a movie, has substantial homosexual element in the plot.

"The Woman Across the Street,'

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READER by May Dikeman, în Best American

AT LARGE

Robert Sale's intentionally nonliterate book, The Oscar, Simon and Schuster, 1963, Pocket Books, 1964, follows the ill-starred lives of five Hollywood stars seeking the Oscar as Best Actor of the Year The five are quite a crew of less than lovely juvenile delinquents, all are ready to cheat anyone or anything. One is an alcoholic, another a psychopathic "super-patriot" As sometimes happens, curiously, in a novel like this, the homosexual is the least reprehensible of the lot possibly because the author feels this "ultimate sin" to be a big enough black mark in itself. Be that as it may, Brett Chi chester, faintly effeminate English actor, is far more victimized than victimizing on the rocky road to the Oscar Two of the characters are embarrassingly close to the line called li bel. The book, soon to be made into

26

Short Stories, 1964, edited by Martha Foley and David Burnett, Houghton Mifflin, 1964, Ballantine, 1965, has several peripheral male homosexual characters and some "witty" cracks to recommend it.

Bill Gunn's novel All The Rest Have Died, Delacorte, 1964, amply demonstrates one more facet of this much-talented young Negro actor, director and playwright. It is a novel about Negroes, but not a Negro novel. Rather it is about a young man coming-of-age, and the obstacles he meets and beats. The color line does come up in the rise of Barney Gif ford to fame as an actor, but it isn't out of proportion. Barney's life, his rise, his ability as a lover and as a man are closely linked to the violent love he carries with him for the memory of his dearest friend, a male who died violently and un necessarily Part of Barney's adjustment involves his learning just what these feelings mean and finding a way to live with them and remain whole and content. It is subtle and very well done.

cousin,

The latest John O'Hara collection, The Horse Knows The Way, Random House, 1964, has three pertinent stor ies, and minor references in several