Episode 153: Robert Joseph Greene on Censorship and the Hidden History of Gay Romance

Robert Joseph Greene is a Canadian author of gay romance fiction, including The Gay Icon Classics of the World, a globe-trotting collection of love stories set in various historical eras including Egypt, Persia, and Tsarist Russia.The latter story, The Blue Door, was taken up by activists in their protests against Putin’s prohibition of “homosexual propaganda”, making Robert “the face of gay propaganda in the Russian media”.In Germany, Robert’s publisher had its books removed by a bookseller owned by the Catholic Church because they didn’t match the company’s “traditional values”, despite heterosexual erotica being stocked without issue.In his research, Robert also found examples of historical figures and writers who have had their references to homosexuality removed or elided by later translators and historians, sending their true feelings, preferences, and worldview squarely down the Memory Hole.In this conversation, Robert talks about his experiences of being censored and even subjected to a Russian arrest warrant, the hidden histories he uncovered in his research, his long-running support for human rights, and the philosophical ideas he explores and contests in his work.Who knew that Polybius’s concept of anacyclosis predated Strauss and Howe’s generational theory by over two thousand years?La plus ça change…Don’t miss an episode, follow us on Apple PodcastsSubscribe for free on SubstackFollow on X and Instagram This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1984today.substack.com