Wednesday 24 June 2020

Rainbow Books Redux


During last year's Translesbigayapalooza, I wrote a post about the first lesbian book and the first gay book I ever read. Afterwards, I realized:

"D'oh! I should have written about
the first TRANS book I ever read too!"

So, on the principle of better late than never, here it is!


In her early life, Jan Morris was James Morris, a well-known Welsh historian, author and travel writer. He was also the reporter embedded with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 when they reached the summit of Everest. A former soldier and British spy as well, James Morris began transitioning in 1964 at the age of 38. In 1974 Jan Morris released her autobiography Conundrum about her life path from male to female. The famous opening words of the book are:

"I was three or perhaps four years old
when I realized that I had been born
into the wrong body, and should really be a girl.
I remember the moment well, and it is
the earliest memory of my life."

In the 1970s, openly transsexual/transgender people were still pretty rare and the book became a sensation and a best-seller. I think Jan Morris's honest and moving account helped many people, including me, understand this profound journey better than we might otherwise have.

In 1949, James Morris had married Elizabeth Tuckniss and they had 5 children together. British law forced the couple to divorce following Jan Morris's transition (because same-sex marriage was illegal), but their relationship endured and they remain a couple to this day, 71 years later.


Now 93, Jan Morris's latest book Thinking Again: A Diary has just been published in the UK and will be released in North America in a few months. Among her many honours, she has been named by The Advocate as one of its 2020 Women of the Year.

39 comments:

  1. Lovelovelove to all trying to be their authentic selves. 💕

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  2. Oh, wow.
    I just realized that the first trans book I read was Christine's Jorgensen autobiography. I think I found it in a bin in some tiny bookstore in Pittsburgh. I think I paid $2 for it. I read it in one afternoon. It left an impression.
    Another book I read that also reads as somehow a trans story is Stone Butch Blues. That book shook me to the core.

    XOXO

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  3. Thank you. She is quite the pioneer for trans people and for those of us who strive to understand more fully and embrace the diversity among us.

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  4. So nice that their love lasts for so long. Him being transexual does not mean he likes men, right?

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  5. Wow! Thanks for this. I'll have to read both now.

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  6. @ DEZMOND -- Sexual orientation is a completely separate issue from gender identity. You cannot predict one from the other.

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  7. I remember hearing the name Christine Jorgensen when I was a kid, but I never heard about James Morris' transition to Jan Morris, and over the years I read anything I could get my hands on about Hillary and Norgay's expedition. With a new book coming out, Morris will probably start making the rounds on podcasts, I'll have to look for her.

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  8. what a wonderful post and now i know of a few books i need to read.

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  9. I remember reading "Conundrum" way back when ~ very moving! Bless her!

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  10. Surely the first gay book using the rainbow symbology was by Roy Gbiv?

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  11. A excellent post! I have never heard of her or the book, but I will look into it...I would love that book I think.

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  12. That was a good post. And that they stayed together still, even though they were forced to be pulled apart. I love it. I love it.

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  13. I don’t understand why one has a problem with the choices others makes that don’t affect you. Live and let live.

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  14. That was quite rare, especially back then. We had a local news story where transitioning male to female got a F on her driver's license. A few years later, I saw her picture again in some kind of local LGBT group I follow on Facebook. She's a remarkably gorgeous young lady now

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  15. What an inspiring source of information and pride, and she's here with us now, decades later. A 93 year old published author. Wow. This is awesome. Thank you for the info on Jan, Debra.

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  16. The "homosexual" novels that I consider essential: "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde (albeit the homosexuality is rather subdued), "Earthly Powers" by Anthony Burgess (the novel has a homosexual narrator) and "Honey for the Bears" by the same author (the main character is bisexual, or at least sexually confused). Even though Burgess was by alla ccounts heterosexual.

    That said, I tend to think a piece of literature has no gender or sexual orientation.

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  17. Thank you for making me aware of Jan. What a life!

    Love,
    Janie

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  18. I will be looking for this author!

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  19. How fascinating; she truly was a groundbreaker for her time.

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  20. Thank you for sharing her story, Debra. It made my heart smile knowing that their love and relationship continues to this day. Beautiful!

    Elsie

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  21. What a wonderful story. How courageous she was at the age of 38 to make that change.
    Thanks so much for sharing this story Debra.
    Hugs
    Peggy xxx

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  22. Thanks, Debra, If I ever get back to the U.S., I have a couple more books to look for!
    --Jim

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  23. I remember when all that happened and Jan Morris was in the newspapers and on television. I knew what had happened but probably didn't really understand it.

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  24. Amazing woman! So inspiring.

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  25. I had to Google her..My Mother was a Morris and has relatives in England that I don't know anything about..I have to think that if Jan was one of them, I would have been aware of her before now..Interesting post..Thanks

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  26. Such courage to go public back then. Amazing.

    If you haven't read any kids books lately, Rick Riordan (of Percy Jackson fame) has a trans character in his series featuring the Norse pantheon. I was so pleased with how he wrote the character! Times are changing, thank the gods, but not fast enough...

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  27. @ e -- As it happens, I AM reading the Magnus Chase trilogy! I've just started the third book "The Ship of the Dead." I don't typically read a lot of YA books but I really enjoy Rick Riordan's fun, breezy style.

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  28. That is very interesting. I never thought about the issue of transitioning and no same-sex marriage. Thanks for the heads up.

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  29. Growing up gay was hard enough, I can't imagine looking into the mirror and seeing the wrong body.

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  30. Can't wait to read Morris's new book. In a book about Wales, he introduced me to "dog tongs"--they used to use them in nonconformist chapels to oust dogs that wouldn't behave properly.

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  31. I really enjoyed this post. Beautiful and touching.

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  32. Kudos to Jan Morris being brave in writing such an important book. I am sure it has helped many feel more comfortable living honestly as well as helping others understand what transgender means.

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  33. did she talk about how people treated her after the transition? that always breaks my heart..there is a docu/movie on Netflix called disclosure about transgender and their stories...made me laugh and cry..

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  34. I never heard of this book or this person, but as with all things LGBTQ, I'd like to read it.

    I read Caitlyn Jenner's book. It has the usual bland prose style and typeface twice as large as it needs be, but was still interesting.

    Then there's Myra Breckenridge, a work of fiction written by a man who was gay not trans, but amid all the black humor, Gore Vidal was basically sympathetic to his main character (and pretty much bitchy toward anyone else.)

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  35. I left something out of my Caitlyn Jenner comment. In-between "typeface twice as large as it should be" and "was still interesting" I should have inserted "as we've come to expect from books written by celebrities"

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  36. That quote about Jan's earliest memory is devastating. I've always felt such compassion for trans people. No one goes through a change like that without profoundly deep convictions. What a remarkable relationship Jan and Elizabeth have. I would like to read this book.

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