I’ve been studying gay pulp for years, but because of the time constraints in a grad program, I couldn’t stray too far into lesbian pulp once I’d gotten the gist. She never knew what she wanted-until she came to Greenwich Village and found the love that smolders in the shadows of the twilight world. Befriended by the gay Jack Mann, a father-figure with a weakness for runaways, Beebo sets out to find love. With Beebo Brinker, Bannon introduces the title character, a butch 17-year-old farm girl newly arrived in New York. Unlike many writers of the period, however, Bannon broke through the shame and isolation typically portrayed in lesbian pulps, offering instead women characters who embrace their sexuality against great odds. A real butch woman from the pre-Stonewall era who is flawed and human but never a villain? That’s one in a million.Designated the “Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction” for authoring five landmark novels beginning in 1957, Ann Bannon’s work defined lesbian fiction for the pre-Stonewall generation. Beebo is unapologetic for who she is and is openly desired by the women around her.īeebo deserves a high spot on this list for not only being iconic but revolutionary. Indeed, women considered to be “manly” in any way are routinely mocked, and if they are gay, people jokingly assume it’s just because they couldn’t find a man who wanted them. The fact that butch characters are rarely seen even today makes her all the more remarkable. One of the most popular and enduring characters in the series is none other than the eponymous Beebo Brinker.īeebo is a rare find-a butch lesbian who embraces her masculinity and is celebrated rather than punished for it (by other gay characters, at least). Critiques have praised the series for portraying gay relationships both accurately and positively, and Bannon for giving her characters and unheard of amount of depth for pulp characters. There’s loads of trashy drama and histrionics, and none of the characters gets a fairy tale ending, but they do get real endings and they are allowed to be happy. The women fall in love, break up, and fall in love again-with other women. You can really use your imagination as long as you keep in mind that no one who still considered themselves queer by the novel’s climax was allowed to have a happy ending.Īnne Bannon’s series of lesbian pulp novels (which later came to be known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles) defied this formal in many ways.

Pulp fiction often touched on lesbian themes but typically followed the standard formula of nice girl has a nice guy, nice girl gets seduced by a wicked (possibly Satanic) lesbian, nice guy eventually gets girl back, and wicked lesbian, I don’t know, dies in a fire. Beebo Brinker – The Beebo Brinker Chronicles The star of Ann Bannon's The Beebo Brinker Chronicles.

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