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alt.polyamory FAQ: Cultural Supplement


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See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
                     The Alt.polyamory FAQ
                       Culture Supplement

1.) Poly Non-fiction

2.) Poly Fiction

3.) Poly Movies

4.) Poly Songs

5.) Poly Comic Books/Graphic Novels


Key to symbols: * indicates level of poly in piece
                ! indicates poly friendliness of piece
            
For further information on books on this list, you can telnet the 
Library of Congress at dra.com or locis.loc.gov. The Library of Congress 
is also accessible via the WWW at http://lcweb.loc.gov/catalog


1.) Poly Non-fiction

   ***** !!!!! Deborah Anapol, "Love Without Limits" (see IRC listing under
                    organizations)
   **       !! Simone De Beauvoir, "Adieux: a Farewell to Sartre"
   ***** !!!!! M. L. Carden, "Oneida: Utopian Community to Modern
                    Corporation"
   ***** !     Audrey Chapman, "Mansharing: Dilemma or Choice"
   ***** !!!!  G. Clanton & C. Downing, "Face to Face to Face"
   ***** !!    L. & J. Constantine, "Group Marriage"
   ***   !!!!! Samuel R. Delany, "Heavenly Breakfast"
   **    !!!!  Samuel R. Delany, "The Motion of Light in Water"
   ***** !!!!! Dossie Easton & Catherine Liszt, "The Ethical Slut: A
                    Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities"
   **    !!!!  Helen Fisher, "Anatomy of Love: The Natural History of
                    Monogamy, Adultery, and Divorce"
   **    !!!   Barbara Foster, Michael Foster, & Letha Hadady, "Three
                    in Love: Menage a Trois from Ancient to Modern Times"
   *     !!    Sarah Hoagland, "Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Values"
   *     !     Arno Karlen, "Threesomes: Studies in Sex, Power, and
                    Intimacy"
   ***** !!!!  Elizabeth Kassoff, "The Diverse Nature of Nonmonogamy
                    for Lesbians: A Phenomenological Investigation"
   ***** !!!!! Aidan A. Kelly (ed), "The New Polygamy: The Polyamorous
                    Lifestyle as a New Spiritual Path."
   *     !!    Sonia Johnson, "The Ship That Sailed into the Living
                    Room: Sex and Intimacy Reconsidered."
   ***** !!!!! Kevin Lano & Claire Parry (ed), "Breaking the Barriers to
                    Desire: Polyamory, Polyfidelity, and Non-monogamy"
   ***   !!!   R. Libby & R. Whitehurst, "Marriage and Alternatives:
                    Exploring Intimate Relationships"
   ***   !!!   Spencer Klaw, "Without Sin"
   ***   !!!   R. Mazur, "The New Intimacy: Open Marriages and Alternative 
                    Lifestyles"
   **    !     Peter McWilliams, "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The
                    Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Society"
   ***** !!!!! Ryam Nearing, "Loving More: The Polyfidelity Primer"
                    (see PEP listing under organizations)
   **    !!!   Anais Nin, "The Diaries of Anais Nin"
   ****  !!!!! Nena and George O'Neill, "Open Marriage"
   ***   !!!   James Ramey, "Intimate Friendships"
   ***   !!!   Carl Rogers, "Becoming Partners: Marriage and Its
                     Alternatives"
   *     !     Lillian Rubin, "Just Friends: The Role of Friendship in Our
                     Lives."
   **    !!!!  Bertrand Russell, "Marriage and Morals"
   **    !!    Meredith Small, "What's Love Got to Do With It? The 
                     Evolution of Human Mating."
   ***** !!!   Gay Talese, "Thy Neighbor's Wife"
   ***   !!    Robert Thamm, "Beyond Marriage and the Nuclear Family"
   ***** !!!!! Celeste West, "Lesbian Polyfidelity"


1.) Poly Fiction

   *     !     Isabel Allende, "Eva Luna"
   ***   !!    Thea Alexander, "2150 AD"
   **    !!!   Wilhelmina Baird, "Crashcourse"
   ***   !!!   John Dudley Ball, "Chief Tallon and the S.O.R."
   ***   !!!   M. A. R. Barker, "Flamesong"
   ***   !!!   M. A. R. Barker, "Man of Gold"
   **    !!!   Boccacio, "The Decameron", collection of short stories
   ****  !!!!! Amy Bloom, "Love is Not a Pie", short story
   ***   !!!!  Marion Zimmer Bradley, "The Forbidden Tower"
   **    !!    Rita Mae Brown, "Six of One"
   **    !!!!  Heidi Brown and Jay Mussell, ed, "Friendly Erotica:
                     A Question of Boundaries" (See Martin Park Com.)
   **    !!    Orson Scott Card, "Saints"
   **    !!!   Ernest Callenbach, "Ecotopia"
   **    !!!   Ernest Callenbach, "Ecotopia Emerging"
   **    !!!!  Michael Cunningham, "A Home at the End of the World"
   **    !!    Robertson Davies, "Fifth Business"
   **    !!    Robertson Davies, "Leaven of Malice"
   **    !!    Robertson Davies, "Lyre of Orpheus"
   **    !!    Robertson Davies, "World of Wonders"
   *     !!!!! Samuel R. Delany, "Babel-17"
   *     !!!!! Samuel R. Delany, "Dhalgren"
   ***   !!!!! Samuel R. Delany, "The Mad Man"
   **    !!!!! Samuel R. Delany, "Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand" 
   ***   !!!   Emily Devenport, "Scorpianne"
   ***   !!!!  Peter Dickenson, "King and Joker"
   **    !!!   Diane Duane, "The Door into Fire"
   **    !!!   Wayne Dyer, "Gifts From Eykis"
   ***   !!!   Robert Graves, "Watch the North Wind Rise"
   *     !!    Andrew Harvey, "Burning Houses"
   **    !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "Beyond This Horizon"
   **    !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "The Cat Who Walked Through Walls"
   **    !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "Friday"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "Glory Road"
   **    !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "Gulf"
   ****  !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "I Will Fear No Evil"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "Methuselah's Children"
   **    !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "The Number of the Beast"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "To Sail Beyond the Sunset"
   ****  !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
   ****  !!!!! Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough For Love"
   *     !!!   John Irving, "The World According to Garp"
   **    !!!   John Irving, "The 158-Pound Marriage"
   ***   !!!   Robert Jordan, "The Eye of the World"
   ***   !!!   Robert Jordan, "The Great Hunt"
   ***   !!!   Robert Jordan, "The Dragon Reborn"
   ***   !!!   Robert Jordan, "The Shadow Rising"
   ***   !!!   Robert Jordan, "The Fires of Heaven"
   ***   !!!   Robert Jordan, "Lord of Chaos"
   ***   !!!   Robert Jordan, "A Crown of Swords"
   ***   !!    Mercedes Lackey & Ellen Guon, "Knight of Ghosts and Shadows"
   *     !!    Mercedes Lackey & Ellen Guon, "Summoned to Tourney"  
   ***   !!!   Ursula K. LeGuin, "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea"
   **    !!!!  Doris Lessing, "The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, 
                    and Five" 
   ***   !!    Elizabeth Lynn, "The Dancers of Arun"
   ***   !!    Elizabeth Lynn, "A Different Light" 
   ***   !!    Elizabeth Lynn, "The Sardonyx Net"
   ***   !!!   Gordon Kendall, "White Wing"
   ****  !!!!  Donald Kingsbury, "Courtship Rite" ("Geta" in the UK)
   ***** !!!!  Kathy Koja, "Kink"
   ****  !     Milan Kundera, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"
   ***   !!!   Michael P. Kube-McDowell, "The Quiet Pools"
   ****  !!!!  Larry McMurty, "Leaving Cheyenne"
   **    !!!   Vonda McIntyre, "Starfarers"
   **    !!!   Vonda McIntyre, "Transition"
   **    !!!   Vonda McIntyre, "Metaphase"
   **    !!!   Vonda McIntyre, "Nautilus"
   *     !!    Somerset Maugham, "Cakes and Ale"
   *     !!!!! Shirley Meier, "Shadow's Daughter"
   **    !!!   Mary Meigs, "The Medusa Head"
   **    !!!   Hester Mundis, "Jessica's Wife"
   *     !     Vladimir Nabokov, "Ada"
   ****  !     Maxine Paetro, "Manshare"
   *     !!!   David Palmer, "Emergence"
   ****  !!!!  Marge Piercy, "The High Cost of Living"
   ***   !!    Marge Piercy, "Woman on the Edge of Time"
   ***   !!!   Marge Piercy, "Summer People"
   ****  !!!!! Robert Rimmer, "Come Live My Life"
   ****  !!!!! Robert Rimmer, "The Harrad Experiment"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Rimmer, "The Immoral Reverend"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Rimmer, "The Love Exchange"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Rimmer, "Premar Experiments"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Rimmer, "Proposition 31"
   ***   !!!!! Robert Rimmer, "The Rebellion of Yale Marrat"
   ****  !!!!! Robert Rimmer, "Thursday My Love"
   **    !!!!  Tom Robbins, "Another Roadside Attraction"
   **    !!    Elizabeth Scarbourough, "The Harem of Aman Akbar"
   **    !!!   Melissa Scott, "The Empress of Earth"
   **    !!!   Melissa Scott, "The Five-Twelfths of Heaven"
   **    !!!   Melissa Scott, "Silence in Solitude"
   ***   !!!   George Bernard Shaw, "The Simpleton of the Unexpected 
                     Isles"
   ***   !!!!! Starhawk, "The Fifth Sacred Thing"
   **    !!!   S. M. Stirling, "Snow Brother"
   ****  !!!!! S. M. Stirling & Shirley Meier, "The Cage"
   *     !!!!! S. M. Stirling & Shirley Meier, "Saber and Shadow"
   ***   !!!!! S. M. Stirling, Shirley Meier, & Karen Wehrstein, "Shadow's
                     Son"
   ***   !!!   S. M. Stirling & David Drake, The General series; "The 
                     Forge", "The Hammer", "The Anvil", "The Steel", 
                     "The Sword"
   **    !!!   Dylan Thomas, "Under Milk Wood"
   **    !!!   John Varley, Gaia trilogy; "Demon", "Titan", "Wizard"
   **    !!!   John Varley, "The Persistence of Vision"
   ***   !!!   John Varley, "Blue Champagne"
   **    !!!   Joan D. Vinge, "The Outcasts of Heaven's Gate"
   **    !!!   Alice Walker, "The Temple of My Familiar"
   ****  !!!   Irving Wallace, "The Three Sirens"
   ****  !!!!! Karen Wehrstein, "Lion's Heart"
   ****  !!!!! Karen Wehrstein, "Lion's Soul"
   ***   !!!   James Wharram, "Two Girls, Two Catamarans"
   **    !!!   Kate Wilhelm, "Where Late the Sweet Birds Sing"
   *     !!!   Walter Jon Williams, "Aristoi"
   **    !!!   Jeanette Winterson, "The Passion"
   **    !!    Virginia Woolf, "Orlando"


3.) Poly Movies

   "Another Woman's Lipstick"
    (Denise Crosby)
     Three episodes based on "Red Shoe Diaries", first episode concerns
     a woman who has two different lovers, who satisfy different needs.
     More dishonest monogamy than polyamory.

   "Belle Epoque"
    (Ariadna Gil)
     Spanish film set just before the Spanish Civil War. An artist takes in
     a deserter, who repays him by sleeping with all four of his 
     daughters.  It's pretty light hearted and a warm farcical romp.

   "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" 
    (Robert Culp, Angie Dickenson)
     This is very much a wife-swapping tale, rather than being more
     generally oriented. Widely known and raises many poly questions.

   "Breaking the Waves"

   "Cafe au Lait"
     French film about a woman who becomes pregnant by one of her lovers.
     The three of them wind up forming a family of sorts to raise the child.

   "The Captain's Paradise"
     Tale about a ferryboat captain on the Gibraltar/Africa run with a 
     wife on each side.

   "A Change of Seasons"
    (Shirley Maclaine, Bo Derek)
     Maclaine's professor husband has an affair with Derek; she then has
     an affair of her own, and then the four decide to go on a holiday 
     together to see whether they can work something out...

   "December Bride"
     A young woman in turn of the century Ireland falls in love with two
     brothers, choosing to live with them both and raise a son and daughter
     with two fathers. 

   "Design for Living"
    (Gary Cooper, Fredrich March, Miriam Hopkins)
     Adaptation of Noel Coward's stage play about an artist (Cooper) and a
     playwright (March), friends and Americans in Paris and what happens
     when the both fall in love with a woman (Hopkins). 

   "Enemies: A Love Story"
    (Angelica Houston, Ron Silver)
     A tale of a man and the three women in his life.

   "Farinelli"
     The story of the 18th century castrati opera star. There are a 
     number of scenes portraying the title character and his brother 
     sharing a woman. This movie is rated R.

   "French Twist"
     French film about a philandering husband who's wife becomes lovers with
     another woman. The wife decides not to choose between her two lovers
     and the three of them form a family in the end.

   "The Harrad Experiment"
    (James Whitmore, Tippi Hedron, Don Johnson)
     Adaptation of the Robert Rimmer book. Unfortunately it spends so much
     time on the topic of public nudity that it has little left over to 
     deal with poly issues.

   "Harrad Summer"

   "Heartbeat"
     (Nick Nolte)
      This is the story of "beat" reporter Jack Kerouac's affair with a 
      married couple.

   "Henry and June"
    (Uma Thurman, Fred Ward)
     Writer Henry Miller has an affair with his friend Anais Nin... and
     then his wife June shows up. Anais finds herself becoming attracted
     to June....

   "The Hunger"
    (Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon)
     More bi than poly, and only a few moments of that. At the end
     Sarandon's character seems to have new lovers of both genders.

   "Jules and Jim"
    (Oskar Werner, Jeanne Moreau)

   "A Lesson in Love"
    (1954) (Ingmar Bergman)
     A romantic comedy about a doctor trying to win back his wife after
     she leaves him over an affair of his.
 
  "Lianna"
   (John Sayles)
    A professor's wife finds out he's having an affair, and at the same
    time falls in love with a female professor. More a lesbian tale than
    a poly one, but especially good at showing the effects on family and
    friends of "coming out" different.

   "Loving Couples"

   "Loving Molly"
    (Beau Bridges, Sally Fields)
     The story of three men and the one woman that they share from the time
     they are children and throughout their lives.

   "Lucky Lady"
    (Liza Minelli, Gene Hackman, Burt Reynolds)
     It does look like the three main characters are getting set to stay
     together at the end of the movie.

   "Mickey and Maude"
    (Dudley Moore)
     Light-hearted romp about a man who gets himself married to two 
     different people. When everyone finds out, they try to share.

   "No Way Out"
    (Kevin Costner, Sean Young, Gene Hackman)
     Costner gets involved with Young, who is already involved with his
     boss (Hackman). Bad things happen. She actively says that she is 
     poly (before she is killed).

   "Paint Your Wagon"
    (Lee Marvin, Jean Seberg, Clint Eastwood)
     Due to the scarcity of women, Marvin and Eastwood share one.

   "Red Shoe Diaries"
     Man finds out about girlfriends poly lifestyle after she kills
     herself. Then he meets her other lover.

   "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker"
     Tale of a traveling salesman with two complete families, one in
     Pittsburgh and the other in Philadelphia.

   "Rita and Sue ... and Bob too"
     A married man's affair with two younger women causes his wife to
     leave him. Can the three lovers transmute their sexual interest into
     something more lasting?

   "Same Time Next Year
    (Alan Alda)
     Alda has a once a year meeting with his lover (as opposed to his wife),
     most of the time is spent examining the changes in the two people in
     the intervening times.

   "The Seduction of Joe Tynan"
    (Alan Alda)
     Alda plays a politician who falls in love with another woman at a
     convention.

   "Sharing Richard"
     A lawyer, a real estate agent, and an office worker, who are best
     friends, separately meet and start dating a recently divorced doctor.
     Instead of breaking it off, they decide to share him without his 
     knowledge.

   "She's Gotta Have It"
     One of Spike Lee's earliest films, deals with a polyamorous young
     woman and the three men who want her to choose. There are also
     alot of Afro-American male/female issues addressed in this movie.
   
   "Small Circle of Friends"
     Genuine poly values are central to the plot of this film about
     a MFM triad. Low-budget production, but asks good questions.
    
   "A Strange Affair"
    (Judith Light)
     A wife is in the process of leaving her husband for another man
     when her husband suffers an accident and requires full time care.
     So she moves her new lover in.

   "The Substitute Wife"
    (Lea Thomson, Farrah Fawcett)
     Thomsons character is dying, and she finds Fawcett to be a new
     wife for her husband. The family falls in love with the new woman
     and then Thomson miraculously recovers. They decide to keep the
     family together with both women.

   "Summer Lovers"
    (Darryl Hannah, Valerie Quenessen, Peter Gallagher)
     A young American couple on a summer vacation in the Mediterranean
     get involved with a French archaeologist.
 
   "Threesome"
    (Laura Flynn Boyle, Steven Baldwin, Josh Charles)
     The story of 2 men and 1 woman who find themselves assigned to the
     same dorm room, and the relationship that develops. Their multi-partner
     relationship is portrayed in a very poly-friendly way.

   "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"
    (Daniel Day-Lewis, Lena Olin)
     The womanizing Tomas falls in love with the monogamous Tereza, but
     cannot give up his lover Sabina....Meanwhile, Russian tanks roll over
     Prague...

   "Willie and Phil"
    (Michael Ontkean, Margot Kidder, Ray Sharkey)
     Seventies movie about a polyamorous triad involved in the protest
     movement. Somewhat of a remake of "Jules and Jim"

   "The Wedding Banquet"
    (Winston Chao, Mitchell Lichtenstein, May Chin)
     In spite of his partner's reservations, a gay man and a starving artist
     decide to marry, he to get his traditional, matchmaking parents off his
     back and she to keep from being deported. Things get....complicated.


4.) Poly Songs 

   Joan Armatrading, "The Weakness in Me"
   Baba Yaga, "Monogamy Shpedogamy"
   Barenaked Ladies, "Alternative Girlfriend"
   William Bell, "Trying to Love Two"
   Christopher Bingham, "Family"
   Chris de Burgh, "More Than This"
   Patsy Cline, "Triangle"
   Leonard Cohen, "The Sisters of Mercy"
   David Crosby, Jefferson Airplane, "Triad"
   Devo, "Happy Guy"
   Jane's Addiction, "Three Days"
   Howard Jones, "Noone is to Blame"
   King Crimson, "Man With an Open Heart"
   Christine Lavin, "Don't Ever Call Your Sweetheart By His Name"
   Lovin Spoonful, "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind"
   Deidre McCalla, "Don't Doubt It"
   Mary MacGregor, "Torn Between Two Lovers"
   Joni Mitchell, "Cactus Tree"
   Joni Mitchell, "Coyote"
   Mondo Vita, "Four Way Stop"
   The Monks, "Love in Stereo"
   The Muppets, "We Got Us"
   Michael Nesmith, "Different Drum"
   Prince, Cyndi Lauper, "When U Were Mine" 
   Resless Heart, "Why Does It Have to Be"
   The Roches, "You're the Two"
   Scarlett, "Independent Love Song"
   Sting, "Tea in the Sahara"



5.) Poly Comic Books/Graphic Novels

        Love and Rockets comic books have a poly/bi accepting story line
     written by Jaime Hernandez
        Omaha the Cat Dancer and ElfQuest comic books also have main 
     characters that are frequently or occasionally involved in polyamorous
     relationships.
         There was a comic in the Kerista newsletters called "Far Out West"
     some of these have been collated into a comic called, "Polly Morphus
     in FAR OUT WEST".
         _Whom Gods Destroy_, a DC Elseworlds graphic novel  which features 
     an alternate earth where,the Nazis are still in power, Superman never 
     aged, and Lois Lane and Lana Lang got old. In the end, when the 
     adventure is finished, the three profess to love one another and then 
     live in polyamorous cohabitation.   
	 Shade: The Changing Man has a plot thread involving the title 
     character and two women (Kathy and Lenny)

--
end of alt.polyamory FAQ culture supplement

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