SOURCE: Lilly, Mark. “David Leavitt: The Lost Language of Cranes.” In Gay Men's Literature in the Twentieth Century, pp. 206-19. New York: New York University Press, 1993.

In the following excerpt, Lilly analyzes David Leavitt's Lost Language of Cranes as an outstanding example of the coming-out novel.

The Lost Language of Cranes¹ is an outstanding example of the recent tradition of coming out novels, many examples of which appeared in the 1970s and 1980s. The formula normally used in such novels involves, first, showing us the family relationships before the coming out, then the more or less traumatic coming out period itself, and finally, some time later, we see whether and to what extent the family/friends have adapted to the new information. The Lost Language of Cranes conforms to this pattern, but in a particularly fine and perceptive way which makes it exemplary of the genre.

The difficulties...