Jim Elledge Livres

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons were at the center of a large body of myths in which they played important roles, from creators of earth and all life to heroes (male and female) in battle. From approximately 160 extant Native American myths, Jim Elledge has selected all those which would be most readily identifiable by contemporary readers as dealing with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals, as well as those which focus on them as prominent, if not main, characters in the myths. He has located a literature that existed long before the European colonization of North America and asserts that, not only does North American literature begin with the oral traditions of Native Americans, the beginning of North American literature includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender literature in the form of these and other myths.

Henry Darger was utterly unknown during his lifetime, keeping a quiet, secluded existence as a janitor on Chicago's North Side. When he died his landlord discovered a treasure trove of more than three hundred canvases and more than 30,000 manuscripts depicting a rich, shocking fantasy world. While some historians tend to dismiss Darger as a psychopath, in Henry Darger, Throw-Away Boy, Jim Elledge cuts through the cloud of controversy and rediscovers Darger as a damaged, fearful, gay man, raised in a world unaware of the consequences of child abuse or gay shame. Engaging and arresting, Henry Darger, Throw-Away Boy brings alive a complex, brave, and compelling man whose outsider art is both challenging and a triumph over trauma.

"The long overdue first biography of Henry Gerber, founder of the Society for Human Rights, the first legally recognized US gay rights organization"--Provided by publisher