The uses of tragic endings in American gay fiction

Abstract

Tragic endings were often considered a typical feature of pre-Stonewall gay fiction, and they were regarded by some critics as authors' concessions necessary to get their work published. However, such overgeneralizations are unfounded. Using the concept of catharsis, the paper utilizes three examples of well-known gay novels published after World War II to demonstrate that authors of gay fiction have been well aware of the possibilities offered by the use of tragic heroes and have been exploiting them in creative ways.