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Jane Rule, 1931-2007

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on December 8, 2007
in Books and GLBTQ
.

Apparently others saw the obituaries earlier, but both the big New York and Los Angeles papers just printed Jane Rule’s death notice in today’s editions. Rule was the author of Desert of the Heart (which was turned into the marvelous “Desert Hearts”, a 1985 film in which my cousin Dean played a key role). For that work alone, Rule became an iconic lesbian literary figure. But my favorite novel of hers is a much less well-known book, Memory Board. I’ve read it and reread it many times, and found it not only deeply moving, but immensely comforting. It’s one of perhaps only half-a-dozen books I re-read every year or two, and it would make the list of my ten favorite novels ever written in the English language. I’ll re-read it again this holiday season.