ABSTRACT
Starr described how the postrevolutionary Soviet government perceived of jazz as a threat to their vision of a new society. The authorities claimed jazz was "anarchistic," "individualistic," and "sexual." Gay writers in America must also walk that tightrope between making ideological statements in the face of a dominant and hostile culture, and at the same time maintain a certain artistic standard and aesthetic integrity. There are many successful and popular lesbian and gay writers with full and satisfying careers. Most of them write primarily about straight people, or about gay people in the personas of straights. Narrative work has suffered a different structural fate. There is virtually no experimentation in language and form in contemporary lesbian novels. The implications of these unwritten rules go far beyond the personal vanity or style of any one reader or writer. The rules reflect a general stagnation in the lesbian-feminist political movement and among lesbian artists in general.
