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 First US edition | |
| Author | Mary Renault |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Longmans, Green & Co (UK) Pantheon Books (US) |
Publication date | 1956 |
| Publication place | South Africa |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 350pp (1958 hardback) |
| OCLC | 47781915 |
| 823/.912 21 | |
| LC Class | PR6035.E55 L37 2001 |
The Last of the Wine is Mary Renault's first novel set in ancient Greece, the setting that would become her most important arena. The novel was published in 1956 and is the second of her works to feature male homosexuality as a major theme. It was a bestseller within the gay community.[1] The book is a portrait of Athens at the close of the Golden Age and the end of the Peloponnesian War with Sparta, and includes Socrates as a character.
- ^ Slide, Anthony (2003). Lost Gay Novels: A Reference Guide to Fifty Works from the First Half of the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 152.
The Charioteer (1953), The Last of the Wine (1956), and particularly The Persian Boy (1972) quickly became best-sellers within the gay community...