世纪之末，各大媒体举办了名目繁多的“百大”评选，“百名最佳科学家”、“百部最佳电影”、“百名最佳音乐指挥”等纷纷出台。隶属兰敦书屋的现代图书馆不久前推出了“本世纪百部最佳英文小说”，但马上在读者和评论界中引起一片争议，被斥为“男性白种人俱乐部成员的必读书目”。
为了“弥补‘本世纪百部最佳英文小说’对同性恋读者的忽视”，美国的三角出版社┄┄一个同性恋刊物与书籍出版社┄┄于６月８日推出了“百部最佳同性恋小说”。德国作家托马斯·曼的描写中年作曲家迷恋美少男的《魂断威尼斯》名列榜首。美国黑人作家詹姆斯·鲍德温的《乔万尼的房间》名列第二，该书讲述了一名旅居欧洲的美国同性恋者的自我压抑。法国作家让·热内的男妓心理小说《百花圣母》名列第三。另外两部法国文学的经典名作┄┄马赛尔·普鲁斯特的《追忆似水年华》和安德鲁·纪德的《背德者》分别名列第四和第五。
这个书目是在征集２５０名同性恋作家、编辑和出版商的意见后，经由１４名评委的投票产生。然而，同性恋小说究竟如何定义呢？评委们在这个问题上意见非常不一致。三角出版社的总裁查尔斯·福劳尔斯说：“很多因素共同决定着如何投票，社会影响、文化影响和作品质量等，都是值得考虑的。我不认为标准是唯一的。”
从入选书籍来看，三个并不相互排斥的因素决定了那些作品能够入围“百部最佳同性恋小说”：１）作家本人是同性恋／双性恋者，但作品中不一定有同性恋人物，如弗吉尼亚·吴尔夫的《多拉维夫人》（第３１位）；２）作品中有同性恋人物或者同性情感的表达，如艾丽斯·沃克的《紫色》（第４１位）和巴尔扎克的《迷失的幻觉》（第９０位）等；３）作品本身与同性恋无关，但能给予同性恋者特殊启示，如赫尔曼·麦尔维尔的《白鲸》。
评委之一、女同性恋作家桃洛西·艾里森说：“每本书都有助于让人们理解局外人的心态。《白鲸》着重讲述了另类人的生存故事，而同性恋者对此深有同感。”艾里森的《来自卡罗来纳的混帐东西》被列为第２９位。
小说家Ｍ．Ｅ．科尔也是评委会成员，他说：“同性恋小说不光只谈男人间或女人间的情事。”
三角出版社和现代图书馆的书目中，只有一小部份重合，它们是：伊夫林·沃的《重访布莱德谢》（第１９位）、卡森·麦卡勒斯《心灵是孤独的猎手》（第３０位）、Ｄ．Ｈ．劳伦斯的《恋爱中的女人》（第４２位）和维拉·卡瑟的《死神降临至大主教》（第６６位）。也有一些小说已经被成功地改编成主流电影，如曼奴艾尔·普伊格的《蜘蛛女之吻》（第８位）、路易莎·奥尔科特的《小妇人》（第４３位）、哈波·李的《杀死嘲鸠》（第６７位）等。
由于三角出版社的书目考虑到对同性恋者的影响，因此并不一定选录同性恋作家受到主流社会肯定的作品，例如几乎没有人（包括作家自己）会认为Ｅ．Ｍ．福斯特的半自传体同性恋小说《莫里斯》（第１６位）的艺术性会高于《印度之行》、《霍华德庄舍》或《带风景的房间》，而后三本书都被列入了“本世纪百部最佳英文小说”中。再比如，《乔万尼的房间》并不是鲍德温的最佳作品，其艺术性也很难说高于排名在其后面的马赛尔·普鲁斯特的《追忆逝水年华》。爱德蒙·怀特的《一个男孩的自述》和《美丽的房间空荡荡》分别被排在第１４位和第８２位，但怀特的作品在同性恋圈子之外几乎无人问津。
在笔者看来，三角出版社要将“最佳同性恋小说”凑成“百部”，实在勉为其难。里面不仅选录了一些鲜为人知的作品，而且有些作品很难被授予“佳”冠，特别是有些排名较后的小说。与此同时，一些文学质量上乘的畅销书却被排斥在外，例如《赛跑领先者》（The Front Runner）不仅是第一部打入畅销书排行榜的同性恋小说，而且自七十年代出版以来，一直是最受喜爱的同性恋作品之一，艺术质量也不低于《莫里斯》等被列入“百部”的作品，而此书却出乎意料地受到了忽视。另外，阿默斯德·莫宾的《城市故事》（Tales of City）被称为“同性恋教育的启蒙之作”，因为该书被改编成电视连续剧后，使广大美国民众第一次看到了同性恋者的生活。英国同性恋者昆顿·克里斯普的自传《裸体公仆》（The Naked Civil Servant）是本世纪最具影响力的同性恋者传记，在主流媒体也曾引起轰动。但如果说传记不能归类于小说的话，那么格特鲁德·斯坦的有关其同性情人的《艾利斯·托克拉斯传记》何以被排在第２５位呢？
该书目的另一个缺陷是对非西方国家同性恋作品的忽视。尽管三角出版社的入选书目并不局限于本世纪的英语作品，但还是侧重于欧美作家。在前二十名中，只有阿根廷作家曼努艾尔·普伊格的《蜘蛛女之吻》和日本作家三岛由纪夫的《假面的告白》（第２０位）来自非欧美国家。
当然，要推出一个人人都赞同的书目是不可能的。三角出版社的努力至少为许多同性恋读者提供了良好的阅读指南。
◆ 附１ “百部最佳同性恋小说”前二十名
１．托马斯·曼《魂断威尼斯》
２．詹姆斯·鲍德温《乔万尼的房间》
３．让·热内《百花圣母》
４．马赛尔·普鲁斯特《追忆逝水年华》
５．安德鲁·纪德《背德者》
６．弗吉尼亚·吴尔夫《奥兰多》
７．雷德克利芙·霍尔《孤独之井》
８．曼努艾尔·普伊格《蜘蛛女之吻》
９．玛格丽特·尤瑟娜《哈德里安的回忆》
１０．奥黛丽·洛德《赞米：我名字的新拼法》
１１．奥斯卡·王尔德《多丽安·格雷的画像》
１２．朱亚尼·巴涅《夜之林》
１３．赫尔蒙·麦尔维尔《比利·伯德》
１４．爱德蒙·怀特《一个男孩的自述》
１５．安德鲁·霍勒兰《舞团来的跳舞人》
１６．Ｅ．Ｍ．福斯特《莫里斯》
１７．戈尔·维多尔《城市与柱梁》
１８．丽塔·梅·布朗《红果林》
１９．伊夫林·沃《重访布莱德谢》
２０．三岛由纪夫《假面的告白》
◆ 附２
“本世纪百部最佳英文小说”中同性恋／双性恋作家的作品
兰敦书屋的现代图书馆推出的“本世纪百部最佳英文小说”中，至少有１８部作品为同性恋／双性恋作家所作，它们是
Ｄ．Ｈ．劳伦斯：《儿子与情人》（第９位）
《彩虹》（第４８位）
《恋爱中的女人》（第４９位）
弗吉尼亚·吴尔夫：《走向灯塔》（第１５位）
卡森·麦卡勒斯：《心灵是孤独的猎手》（第１７位）
Ｅ．Ｍ．福斯特：《印度之行》（第２６位）
《霍华德庄舍》（第３８位）
《看得见风景的房间》（第７９位）
亨利·詹姆斯：《鸽子的翅膀》（第２６位）
《大使们》（第２７位）
《金碗》（第３２位）
伊夫林·沃：《一把尘土》（第３４位）
《勺》（第７５位）
《重访布莱德谢》（第８０位）
詹姆斯·鲍德温：《去山上说吧》（第３９位）
杰克·克鲁艾克：《在路上》（第５５位）
维拉·卡瑟：《死神降临至大主教》（第６１位）
索默斯特·毛姆：《人身枷锁》（第６６位）
虽然有学者撰文认为詹姆斯·乔伊斯等作家也是同性恋／双性恋者（《尤里西斯》和《一位年轻艺术家的写照》分别被列在第１和第３位），但由于本人手头没有确凿的文献参考，因此没有将他／她们列入。
评选和读者选择的两份完整名单编辑本段回目录
The Triangle's 100 Best
1. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
2. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
3. Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet
4. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
5. The Immoralist by Andre Gide
6. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
7. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
8. Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig
9. The Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
10. Zami by Audr?Lorde
11. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
12. Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
13. Billy Budd by Herman Melville
14. A Boy's Own Story by Edmund White
15. Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran
16. Maurice by E. M. Forster
17. The City and the Pillar by Gore Vidal
18. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
19. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
20. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
21. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
22. City of Night by John Rechy
23. Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal
24. Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller
25. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
26. Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
27. The Bostonians by Henry James
28. Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles
29. Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
30. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
31. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
32. The Persian Boy by Mary Renault
33. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
34. The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst
35. Olivia by Dorothy Bussy
36. The Price of Salt (Carol) by Patricia Highsmith
37. Aquamarine by Carol Anshaw
38. Another Country by James Baldwin
39. Ch閞i by Colette
40. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
41. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
42. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
43. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
44. The Friendly Young Ladies (The Middle Mist) by Mary Renault
45. Young T鰎less by Robert Musil
46. Eustace Chisholm and the Works by James Purdy
47. The Story of Harold by Terry Andrews
48. The Gallery by John Horne Burns
49. Sister Gin by June Arnold
50. Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall by Neil Bartlett
51. Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram
52. Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
53. The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
54. The Young and Evil by Charles Henri Ford and Parker Tyler
55. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
56. A Visitation of Spirits by Randall Kenan
57. Three Lives by Gertrude Stein
58. Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli by Ronald Firbank
59. Rat Bohemia by Sarah Schulman
60. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
61. The Counterfeiters by Andr?Gide
62. The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
63. Lover by Bertha Harris
64. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
65. La B鈚arde by Violette Leduc
66. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
67. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
68. The Satyricon by Petronius
69. The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell
70. Special Friendships by Roger Peyrefitte
71. The Changelings by Jo Sinclair
72. Paradiso by Jos?Lezama Lima
73. Sheeper by Irving Rosenthal
74. Les Guerilleres by Monique Wittig
75. The Child Manuela (M鋎chen in Uniform) by Christa Winsloe
76. An Arrow's Flight by Mark Merlis
77. The Gaudy Image by William Talsman
78. The Exquisite Corpse by Alfred Chester
79. Was by Geoff Ryman
80. Th閞es?and Isabelle by Violette Leduc
81. Gemini by Michel Tournier
82. The Beautiful Room Is Empty by Edmund White
83. The Children's Crusade by Rebecca Brown
84. The Story of the Night by Colm Toibin
85. The Holy Terrors (Les Enfants Terribles) by Jean Cocteau
86. Hell Has No Limits by Jos?Donoso
87. Riverfinger Women by Elana Nachman (Dykewomon)
88. The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon by Tom Spanbauer
89. Closer by Dennis Cooper
90. Lost Illusions by Honor?de Balzac
91. Miss Peabody's Inheritance by Elizabeth Jolley
92. Ren?s Flesh by Virgilio Pi馿ra
93. Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai
94. Wasteland by Jo Sinclair
95. Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing by May Sarton
96. Sea of Tranquillity by Paul Russell
97. Autobiography of a Family Photo by Jacqueline Woodson
98. In Thrall by Jane DeLynn
99. On Strike Against God by Joanna Russ
100. Sita by Kate Millett
Our Visitors' 100 Best
1. The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
2. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
3. The Charioteer by Mary Renault
4. Like People in History by Felice Picano
5. Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
6. A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham
7. Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
8. The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt
9. Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim
10. The Object of My Affection by Stephen McCauley
11. Faggots by Lary Kramer
12. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
13. Other Women by Lisa Alther
14. Stars in my Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel Delany
15. Six of One by Rita Mae Brown
16. Even Cowgirls Get The Blues by Tom Robbins
17. Martin and John by Dale Peck
18. Querelle by Jean Genet
19. The God in Flight by Laura Argiri
20. Totem Pole by Sanford Friedman
21. Falconer by John Cheever
22. Latin Moon in Manhattan by Jaime Manrique
23. Openly Bob by Bob Smith
24. The Lord Won't Mind by Gordon Merrick
25. The Naked Civil Servant by Quentin Crisp
26. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
27. Quatrefoil by James Barr
28. The Better Angel by Richard Meeker
29. Known Homosexual by Joseph Hanson
30. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
31. Burning Houses by Andrew Harvey
32. The American Woman In The Chinese Hat by Carole Maso
33. Nightswimmer by Joseph Olshan
34. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
35. The Beauty of Men by Andrew Holleran
36. The Folded Leaf by William Maxwell
37. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
38. The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
39. The Sea of Light by Jenifer Levin
40. Bending at the Bow by Marion Douglas
41. Amnesty by Louise Blum
42. Hood by Emma Donoghue
43. Queer by William Burroughs
44. Funeral Rites by Jean Genet
45. The Thief's Journal by Jean Genet
46. Forbidden Colors by Yukio Mishima
47. The Grandmothers by Glenway Wescott
48. Scissors, Paper, Rock by Fenton Johnson
49. Just Above My Head by James Baldwin
50. Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham
51. Equal Affections by David Leavitt
52. Tim and Pete by James Robert Baker
53. Dance of the Warriors by Kevin Esser
54. Streetboy Dreams by Kevin Esser
55. Livre blanc by Jean Cocteau
56. Confession of Felix Krull by Thomas Mann
57. Pryor Rendering by Gary Reed
58. Winter Birds by Jim Grimsley
59. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
60. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
61. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
62. Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing by May Sarton
63. Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest
64. In a Shallow Grave by James Purdy
65. The Unlit Lamp by Radclyffe Hall
66. Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady by Florence King
67. The Wild Boys by William S. Burroughs
68. Paxton Court by Diane Salvatore
69. Quatrefoil by James Barr
70. The Twyborn Affair by Patrick White
71. Hemlock and After by Angus Wilson
72. Chamber Music by Doris Grumbach
73. Ernesto by Umberto Saba
74. Separate Rooms by Pier Vittorio Tondelli
75. Bertram Cope's Year by H.B. Fuller
76. Bom-Criulo by Adolfo Caminha
77. Nights in the Underground by Marie Claire Blais
78. The High Cost of Living by Marge Piercy
79. Toilet by Tom Woolley
80. Red Azalea by Anchee Min
81. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
82. Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley
83. Kissing the Witch by Emma Donohue
84. Biography of Desire by Mary Dorcey
85. Mother of the Grass by Jovette Marchessault
86. Six Chapters of a Floating Life by Shen Fu
87. The Four Winds by Gerd Brantenberg
88. China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh
原文链接：http://www.publishingtriangle.org/100best.asp
“本世纪百部最佳英文小说”的完整书目和英文原名，请参阅
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100best/novels.html
