Dance on My Grave
Dance on My Grave: a life and a death in four parts, one hundred and seventeen bits, six running reports and two press clippings, with a few jokes, a puzzle or three, some footnotes and a fiasco now and then to help the story along is a 1982 young adult novel by British author Aidan Chambers. It is the second book in the Dance Sequence series.
First edition cover | |
Author | Aidan Chambers |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | Dance Sequence |
Genre | Young adult novel |
Publisher | Bodley Head |
Publication date | 1982 |
Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Pages | 256 |
ISBN | 978-0-370-30366-6 |
Preceded by | Breaktime |
Followed by | Now I Know |
It tells the story of a British teenager named Henry Robinson, detailing the events that led to his dancing on the grave of his slightly older friend, Barry Gorman, with whom Robinson had a love affair.[1]
It was one of the first few young adult books published by a major publisher that depicts homosexuality[2][3] without being judgmental and was included on ALA's[4] and other libraries'[5] list of books for gay teens. It has also been referred to in a number of books on children and young adult literature.[6][7][8]
Because of its gay-positive theme, it was challenged at the Montgomery County Memorial Library System in 2004 by the Library Patrons of Texas.[9]
Translations
Dance on My Grave has been translated into at least 9 other languages in both Asia and Europe.[10]
Film Adaptation
The book was the basis of a film entitled Summer of 85 (Été 85) by the French director François Ozon in 2020.[11]
References
- "Dance on My Grave".
- Eccleshare, Julia (2007-05-18). "Obituaries: Margaret Clark". The Guardian.
- "Contemporary Writers: Aidan Chambers". Archived from the original on 2009-10-12.
- "Bibliography for Gay Teens". 2009-12-29.
- "LGBT Books for Young Adults".
- Trites, Roberta Seelinger (2000). Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature. University of Iowa Press. pp. 104–107. ISBN 978-0-87745-732-9.
- Hunt, Peter; Ray, Sheila G. Bannister (1996). International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Routledge. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-203-16812-7.
- Trupe, Alice (2006). Thematic Guide to Young Adult Literature. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-313-33234-0.
- "Banned Book List".
- "Books in Other Language translations and US editions".
- Peter Debruge, "François Ozon’s ‘Summer of 85’: Film Review". Variety, July 14, 2020.