The Bitterweed Path: A Rediscovered Novel

This long out-of-print and newly rediscovered novel tells the story of two boys growing up in the cotton country of Mississippi a generation after the Civil War. Originally published in 1950, the novel's unique contribution lies in its subtle engagement of homosexuality and cross-class love. In ###The Bitterweed Path#, Thomas Hal Phillips vividly recreates rural Mississippi at the turn of the century. In elegant prose, he draws on the Old Testament story of David and Jonathan and writes of the friendship and love between two boys—one a sharecropper's son and the other the son of the landlord—and the complications that arise when the father of one of the boys falls in love with his son's friend. Part of a very small body of gay literature of the period, ###The Bitterweed Path# does not sensationalize homosexual love but instead portrays sexuality as a continuum of human behavior. The result is a book that challenges many assumptions about gay representation in the first half of the twentieth century.

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The Bitterweed Path: A Rediscovered Novel

This long out-of-print and newly rediscovered novel tells the story of two boys growing up in the cotton country of Mississippi a generation after the Civil War. Originally published in 1950, the novel's unique contribution lies in its subtle engagement of homosexuality and cross-class love. In ###The Bitterweed Path#, Thomas Hal Phillips vividly recreates rural Mississippi at the turn of the century. In elegant prose, he draws on the Old Testament story of David and Jonathan and writes of the friendship and love between two boys—one a sharecropper's son and the other the son of the landlord—and the complications that arise when the father of one of the boys falls in love with his son's friend. Part of a very small body of gay literature of the period, ###The Bitterweed Path# does not sensationalize homosexual love but instead portrays sexuality as a continuum of human behavior. The result is a book that challenges many assumptions about gay representation in the first half of the twentieth century.

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The Bitterweed Path: A Rediscovered Novel

The Bitterweed Path: A Rediscovered Novel

The Bitterweed Path: A Rediscovered Novel

The Bitterweed Path: A Rediscovered Novel

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Overview

This long out-of-print and newly rediscovered novel tells the story of two boys growing up in the cotton country of Mississippi a generation after the Civil War. Originally published in 1950, the novel's unique contribution lies in its subtle engagement of homosexuality and cross-class love. In ###The Bitterweed Path#, Thomas Hal Phillips vividly recreates rural Mississippi at the turn of the century. In elegant prose, he draws on the Old Testament story of David and Jonathan and writes of the friendship and love between two boys—one a sharecropper's son and the other the son of the landlord—and the complications that arise when the father of one of the boys falls in love with his son's friend. Part of a very small body of gay literature of the period, ###The Bitterweed Path# does not sensationalize homosexual love but instead portrays sexuality as a continuum of human behavior. The result is a book that challenges many assumptions about gay representation in the first half of the twentieth century.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780807845950
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date: 06/17/1996
Series: Chapel Hill Books
Edition description: 1
Pages: 336
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

Thomas Hal Phillips, a former Hollywood screenwriter and consultant whose film work includes ###Nashville#, ###The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman#, ###Ode to Billy Joe#, and ###Walking Tall II#, now lives in his native Mississippi. He is author of the novels ###The Golden Lie#, ###Search for a Hero#, ###Kangaroo Hollow#, and ###The Loved and the Unloved#. John Howard, a native of Brandon, Mississippi, is author of ###Men Like That: A Southern Queer History# and editor of ###Carryin' On in the Lesbian and Gay South#.

What People are Saying About This

David Bergman

"An extraordinary find. It will force many critics to reexamine the nature of pre-stonewall gay fiction and the range of how homosexuality was constructed in post-war America."

From the Publisher

“A remarkable rediscovery. It is in itself a moving, subtle, skillful work of fiction. And its rare depiction of homoerotic relationships in an era in which the subject was largely tabooed redoubles the novel’s importance and impact. John Howard’s excellent introduction to the book, placing it in historical context, further adds to the importance of this publishing event.”—Martin Duberman, author of Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising That Changed America

“Lyrical, sexy, and fascinating—a haunting work of art from a time and psychological place that is illuminating to revisit in light of where the world is today.”—Howard Cruse, author of Stuck Rubber Baby

“A small gem of a homoerotic novel, written about a time and a place when gay didn’t exist, but male love did. We owe our thanks to John Howard for rediscovering it, and to Thomas Hal Phillips for writing it.”—John D'Emilio, author of Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940–1970

John D'Emilio

"A small gem of a homo-erotic novel, written about a time and a place when gay didn't exist, but male love did."

Martin Duberman

"A remarkable discovery. A moving, subtle, skillful work of fiction. It's rare depiction of homo-erotic relationshis in an era in which the subject was largely tabooed, redoubles the novel's...impact. John Howard's excellent introduction, further adds to the importance of this publishing event."

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