The Representations of Drag Queen Characters in Pre-Stonewall Literature: John Rechy’s City of Night and Hubert Selby Jr.’s Last Exit to Brooklyn

Abstract

This paper is a comparative analysis of two novels—John Rechy’s City of Night and Hubert Selby Jr.’s Last Exit to Brooklyn—in terms of their presentation of drag queen characters. The analysis focuses on the novels’ revolutionary potential and argues that since the authors present their characters as sympathetic and genuine despite the hardships they have to endure, the two novels could be seen as examples of early forms of gay rights activism. Such an assumption questions the approach of many scholars who treat pre-Stonewall literature as purely an expression of homosexual people’s trouble with accepting their sexual orientation.