This is a collection of poems and clips of stories across history that has evidence queer or queer-adjacent work up to the early 20th century.

The intro gives a good explanation of what is found in many verses and how to find the patterns within. I will say though, it was hard to follow as someone who isn’t in-depth in the historical literature world.

I think it would be important for the introduction to use language that anyone could follow, not just historical literary readers.

From same-sex romance, gender norms, it’s about queerness as a whole not just gay, bi, lesbian and so on. It was interesting to read the clips from literature and see it almost “between the lines”.

Thank you NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the ARC.