Strange Brother
Encyclopedia
Strange Brother is a gay novel
written by Blair Niles
published in 1931. The story is about a platonic
relationship between a heterosexual woman and a gay man and takes place in New York City
in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Strange Brother is significant because it provides an early and objective documentation of homosexual
issues during the Harlem Renaissance
.
he meets and befriends June Westbrook. One night they witness a man named Nelly being arrested. June encourages Mark to investigate. This leads Mark to attend Nelly's trial, where he is found guilty and sentenced to six month's imprisonment on Welfare Island
for his feminine affections and gestures. Next Mark researches the crimes against nature
sections of the penal code. Shaken up by his findings and the events, Mark confesses his own homosexuality to June.
Mark and June's friendship continue to grow, and June introduces Mark to a number of friends in her social circle. Various social interactions ensue including a dinner party for a departing professor, a trip to a nightspot featuring the singer Gladys Bentley
and attending a drag ball
. Despite reading Walt Whitman
's poetry collection Leaves of Grass
, Edward Carpenter
's series of papers Love's Coming of Age, and Countee Cullen
's poetry, Mark is afraid to come out
. Subsequently Mark is threatened with being outed
at work. In response to this threat, Mark commits suicide
by shooting himself.
talents. Tom leads Mark to realize his homosexuality before he himself travels abroad.
Philip Crane (Phil): A handsome, muscular and heterosexual man who studies tropical
entomology
. Phil is Jane's cousin and companion on whom Mark has a secret crush.
Palmer Fleming: June's ex-husband whom she witnesses dancing with a scantily clad young man at a Drag Ball.
Harold Grant (Nelly) : A 21 year old, outwardly effeminate African American
man and drag queen
whose arrest concerns June and Mark.
Irwin Hesse: A professor who is a Jewish man from continental Europe
. Dr. Hesse experiments with sex differences in animals, focusing on the endocrine system
, polymorphism
, and gynandromorph
ism. Dr. Hesse asserts that sex differences are chemical and "abnormals
" make up 2-3% of the general population.
Lilly-Marie: A friend of Mark's who is a gay ex-convict.
Peggy: A young woman who has a romantic interest in Mark, but marries Phil.
Quinn: An older Irish man who is the janitor at Mark's settlement house.
Rico: A Sicilian
boy and fruit vendor whose stand is outside Mark's settlement house.
Evan Rysdale: An artist whom June befriends while summering at Ogunquit, Maine
.
Mark Thornton: The protagonist of the story, Mark is a 22 year old Midwestern
man who has traveled to New York City. He is not outwardly effeminate and teaches drawing at a local settlement house
.
Seth Vaughn: A young man and distinguished author and lecturer who does not return June Westbrook's affections.
June Westbrook: June is a young heterosexual divorcée
who works as a newspaper columnist. She is a central character in the story, being Mark's closest friend.
investigation than a novel." He goes on to credit Blair Niles for being one of the first authors to portray a continuum of sexuality, and for promoting tolerance and compassion." According to editor and author Anthony Slide
, Strange Brother illustrates the "basic assumption that gay characters in literature must come to a tragic end."
focus. Ben Duncan's perspective was published in the January 25, 1979 issue of the Gay News
newspaper, "The book remains and is welcome now, as a monument of good reporting." Susan Stryker, a scholar, notes that "[Blair Niles] treats Manhattan's homosexual subculture much the same way she does any other exotic locale." Again, Slide notes that Niles' anthropological
approach to documenting homosexuality as well as the Harlem
Negro
in Strange Brother "is fascinating to a modern readership." George-Michel Sarotte calls the work a thorough study of a variety of homosexuals, showcasing both whites and blacks, and a range of homosexual life styles from transvestite to the "well-adjusted male". The homosexual's legal, and societal relationships both in large cities and small towns are covered. Additionally the psychological history from childhood to adulthood is canvassed, including commitments, identifying with homosexual literature, guilt, solitude, sadness, blackmail and suicide.
Gay novel
A gay novel deals with homosexual love between men. Novels that deal with homosexual love between women are usually referred to as lesbian novels....
written by Blair Niles
Blair Niles
Blair Niles was an American novelist and travel writer. She was a founding member of the Society of Woman Geographers. Blair Niles is a pen name of Mary Blair Rice, adopted from her late second husband's name, Robert Niles, Jr.- History :...
published in 1931. The story is about a platonic
Platonic love
Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.-Amor Platonicus:The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino. Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has...
relationship between a heterosexual woman and a gay man and takes place in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Strange Brother is significant because it provides an early and objective documentation of homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
issues during the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
.
Plot summary
Mark Thornton, the story's protagonist, moves to New York City in hopes of feeling like less of an outsider. At a nightclub in HarlemHarlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
he meets and befriends June Westbrook. One night they witness a man named Nelly being arrested. June encourages Mark to investigate. This leads Mark to attend Nelly's trial, where he is found guilty and sentenced to six month's imprisonment on Welfare Island
Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island, known as Welfare Island from 1921 to 1973, and before that Blackwell's Island, is a narrow island in the East River of New York City. It lies between the island of Manhattan to its west and the borough of Queens to its east...
for his feminine affections and gestures. Next Mark researches the crimes against nature
Crime against nature
Crime against nature is a legal term used in published cases in the United States since 1814 and normally defined as a form of sexual behavior that is not considered natural and is seen as a punishable offense in dozens of countries and several U.S. states...
sections of the penal code. Shaken up by his findings and the events, Mark confesses his own homosexuality to June.
Mark and June's friendship continue to grow, and June introduces Mark to a number of friends in her social circle. Various social interactions ensue including a dinner party for a departing professor, a trip to a nightspot featuring the singer Gladys Bentley
Gladys Bentley
Gladys Bentley was an American blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance.-Biography:Bentley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of American George L. Bentley and his wife, a Trinidadian, Mary Mote...
and attending a drag ball
Ball culture
Ball culture, the house system, the ballroom community and similar terms describe the underground LGBT subculture in the United States in which people "walk" for trophies and prizes at events known as balls. Those who walk often also dance and vogue while others compete in various genres of drag...
. Despite reading Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
's poetry collection Leaves of Grass
Leaves of Grass
Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman . Though the first edition was published in 1855, Whitman spent his entire life writing Leaves of Grass, revising it in several editions until his death...
, Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, socialist philosopher, anthologist, and early gay activist....
's series of papers Love's Coming of Age, and Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen was an American poet who was popular during the Harlem Renaissance.- Biography :Cullen was an American poet and a leading figure with Langston Hughes in the Harlem Renaissance. This 1920s artistic movement produced the first large body of work in the United States written by African...
's poetry, Mark is afraid to come out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
. Subsequently Mark is threatened with being outed
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
at work. In response to this threat, Mark commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by shooting himself.
Characters
Tom Burden: An older gay man and platonic friend who urges Mark to develop his drawingDrawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
talents. Tom leads Mark to realize his homosexuality before he himself travels abroad.
Philip Crane (Phil): A handsome, muscular and heterosexual man who studies tropical
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
entomology
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
. Phil is Jane's cousin and companion on whom Mark has a secret crush.
Palmer Fleming: June's ex-husband whom she witnesses dancing with a scantily clad young man at a Drag Ball.
Harold Grant (Nelly) : A 21 year old, outwardly effeminate African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
man and drag queen
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
whose arrest concerns June and Mark.
Irwin Hesse: A professor who is a Jewish man from continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
. Dr. Hesse experiments with sex differences in animals, focusing on the endocrine system
Endocrine system
In physiology, the endocrine system is a system of glands, each of which secretes a type of hormone directly into the bloodstream to regulate the body. The endocrine system is in contrast to the exocrine system, which secretes its chemicals using ducts. It derives from the Greek words "endo"...
, polymorphism
Polymorphous perversity
Polymorphous perversity is a psychoanalytic term for human ability to gain sexual gratification outside socially normative sexual behaviors. Sigmund Freud used this term to describe the normal sexual disposition of humans from infancy to about age five....
, and gynandromorph
Gynandromorph
A gynandromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics. The term gynandromorph, from Greek "gyne" female and "andro" male, is mainly used in the field of Lepidopterology or entomology...
ism. Dr. Hesse asserts that sex differences are chemical and "abnormals
Abnormality (behavior)
Abnormality, in the vivid sense of something deviating from the normal or differing from the typical , is a subjectively defined behavioral characteristic, assigned to those with rare or dysfunctional conditions...
" make up 2-3% of the general population.
Lilly-Marie: A friend of Mark's who is a gay ex-convict.
Peggy: A young woman who has a romantic interest in Mark, but marries Phil.
Quinn: An older Irish man who is the janitor at Mark's settlement house.
Rico: A Sicilian
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
boy and fruit vendor whose stand is outside Mark's settlement house.
Evan Rysdale: An artist whom June befriends while summering at Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit is a town in York County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census its population was 1,226. The popularity of the town as a summer resort is epitomized by its motto, "Beautiful Place by the Sea."...
.
Mark Thornton: The protagonist of the story, Mark is a 22 year old Midwestern
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
man who has traveled to New York City. He is not outwardly effeminate and teaches drawing at a local settlement house
Settlement movement
The settlement movement was a reformist social movement, beginning in the 1880s and peaking around the 1920s in England and the US, with a goal of getting the rich and poor in society to live more closely together in an interdependent community...
.
Seth Vaughn: A young man and distinguished author and lecturer who does not return June Westbrook's affections.
June Westbrook: June is a young heterosexual divorcée
Divorcee
Divorcee, refers to a person whose marriage has ended in divorce, a legal dissolution of marriage before death by either spouse. The feminine form is "divorcée", and the masculine "divorcé". At one time the term had negative cultural and religious associations...
who works as a newspaper columnist. She is a central character in the story, being Mark's closest friend.
Publication history
Strange Brother has been reprinted a number of times since its initial 1931 Liveright publication in New York, as follows:- Thomas Werner LaurieThomas Werner LaurieThomas Werner Laurie was a London publisher of books that were avant-garde in some cases, racy in others. He founded his T. Werner Laurie Ltd. publishing house in 1904 and was known for publishing the works of Yeats, Wilde, and Moore as well as others of lesser renown...
, 1931 (British publication) - Harris Publishing Company, 1949
- Avon BooksAvon (publishers)Avon Publications was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. As of 2010, it is an imprint of HarperCollins, publishing primarily romance novels.-History:...
, 1952 - Arno Press, 1975
- Gay Men's PressGay Men's PressGay Men's Press was a publisher of books based in London, United Kingdom. The company published from 1979 until 2006.Launched in 1979, the publisher was a welcome company for gay writers attempting to get published. The book business had been unwelcoming to such writers, publishing only works of...
, 1991 - Ayer Company Publishers, 2002
Literary significance and criticism
Strange Brother received mixed reviews upon its publication. Reviewers were not offended by the homosexual theme and noted the situations in the novel were portrayed with tolerance and sympathy rather than approval. The novel was praised for being interesting and informative, but did not receive praise for its execution as an engaging novel that comes to life.Critical commentary
Henry Gerber, a gay critic wrote in 1934, "[Strange Brother is] an ideal anti-homosexual propaganda." Ian Young numbers it among a group of early gay novels that is "cast in the form of a tragic melodrama." George-Michel Sarotte notes the sympathetic nature of the book, but also points out that it "is more of a psychosociologicalSocial psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
investigation than a novel." He goes on to credit Blair Niles for being one of the first authors to portray a continuum of sexuality, and for promoting tolerance and compassion." According to editor and author Anthony Slide
Anthony Slide
Anthony Slide is a writer who has produced more than seventy books and edited a further 150 on the history of popular entertainment. He wrote a "letter from Hollywood" for the British Film Review from 1979 to 1994, and he wrote a monthly book review column for Classic Images from 1989 to 2001...
, Strange Brother illustrates the "basic assumption that gay characters in literature must come to a tragic end."
Journalistic focus
The book has been praised for its journalisticJournalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
focus. Ben Duncan's perspective was published in the January 25, 1979 issue of the Gay News
Gay News
Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality...
newspaper, "The book remains and is welcome now, as a monument of good reporting." Susan Stryker, a scholar, notes that "[Blair Niles] treats Manhattan's homosexual subculture much the same way she does any other exotic locale." Again, Slide notes that Niles' anthropological
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
approach to documenting homosexuality as well as the Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
Negro
Negro
The word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...
in Strange Brother "is fascinating to a modern readership." George-Michel Sarotte calls the work a thorough study of a variety of homosexuals, showcasing both whites and blacks, and a range of homosexual life styles from transvestite to the "well-adjusted male". The homosexual's legal, and societal relationships both in large cities and small towns are covered. Additionally the psychological history from childhood to adulthood is canvassed, including commitments, identifying with homosexual literature, guilt, solitude, sadness, blackmail and suicide.