Feminist literary theory is a complex, dynamic area of study
that draws from a wide range of critical theories. Although gay,
lesbian, and queer theory are related practices, the three terms
delineate separate emphases marked by different assumptions
about the relationship between gender and sexuality. Conflicted
over his own sexuality, Tennessee Williams wrote directly about
homosexuality only in his short stories, his poetry, and his
late plays. A theory of art and an approach to living that
influenced many European and American gay male and lesbian
writers at the turn of the twentieth century, aestheticism
stressed the independence of art from all moral and social
conditions and judgments. Oscar Wilde is important both as an
accomplished writer and as a symbolic figure who exemplified a
way of being homosexual at a pivotal moment in the emergence of
gay consciousness. Erotic and pornographic works have been
written in many cultures since ancient times and recently have
flourished with the relaxation of cen