Thirty-two years before Simone de Beauvoir's classic The Second Sex, popular French novelist Willy published The Third Sex, a vivid description of the world of European homosexuals in France, Italy, and Germany during the late 1920s. Stepping directly into the heart of gay men's culture, Willy follows homosexual nightlife into music halls, nightclubs, casinos, bars, and saunas. While he finds drug and alcohol use, he also discovers homosexual publishers, scientific societies, group rivalries, and opinions--both medical and political--about the nature of homosexuality. This first-ever English edition of The Third Sex provides a goldmine of information about a hidden gay culture and an unrivaled personal record of European mores between the world wars. In describing some of the most conspicuous homosexual personalities of the era, including the champion for tolerance Dr. Magnus Hirschfield and the transvestite American trapeze artist Barbette, Willy is notoriously free from prudery. An introduction and copious notes by translator Lawrence R. Schehr supply important background information on these colorful personalities and point out vital references throughout the text. In guiding readers through Willy's breezy and witty narrative, Schehr unpacks the fascinating allusions and delightful puns buried in this first-hand account of gay men's culture.''What a charming and peculiar bulletin from the past is this little book from 1927, supposedly written by a man famous in his day as a cultural impresario and libertine but now remembered as the husband of Colette. . . . Whoever wrote it, this slender volume offers a fascinating glimpse not so much of exotic homosexual practices but of something much more delicate and transitory: the moment just beforehomosexuality became an identity, before sexual acts had been organized into the solid categories we recognize and traffic in today. A collision of conflicting impulses and wildly incongruous discourses, 'The Third Sex' does not know what it is--'gay Baedeker,' cautionary tale, scientific treatise, pornographic handbook, literary essay, opportunity to slander the Italians and Germans--and that is what makes it so delightful.''--New York Times Book Review
''The Third Sex is a delightful read even while it provides us with valuable information - legal, scientific, pseudo-scientific, anecdotal - toward a more complete assessment of the state of post-WWI queerdom. Lawrence Schehr is doing us huge service in opening these pages that are like an archeological find.'' Robert Harvey, Professor of comparative literature, Stony Brook University ''What a charming and peculiar bulletin from the past is this little book from 1927, supposedly written by a man famous in his day as a cultural impresario and libertine but now remembered as the husband of Colette. Ostensibly a quasi-scientific tour of the male homosexual world in France, Italy and Germany in the 1920s, ''The Third Sex'' is by turns leering, sympathetic, philosophical, patronizing, exuberant, impenetrable, tender and hilarious, often all on the same page... Whoever wrote it, this slender volume offers a fascinating glimpse not so much of exotic homosexual practices but of something much more delicate and transitory: the moment just before homosexuality became an identity, before sexual acts had been organized into the solid categories we recognize and traffic in today. ''The Third Sex'' is not about the love that dared not speak its name; it's about the love that didn't quite know what its name was yet and was trying on many different ones. It maps a lost world not only of sex, but of the myriad things we modern folk once thought sex could be, and mean.''--International Herald Tribune, 10 November 2007 ''A fascinating collection from popular French novelist Willy. Examining in vivid detail, the world of European homosexual culture during the late 1920s, this is an intriguing and enlightening glimpse into an era and society long-passed.''--Gay Times, Jan 2008
