Papers of Gillian Freeman

The collection consisits of manuscripts and typescripts of novels including The Alabaster Egg, The Leader, The Leather Boys and Jack would be a Gentleman, screenplays of The Leather Boysand Marriage Machine, radio plays and non-fiction works including The Undergrowth of Literature and The Schoolgirl Ethic: the life and work of Angela Brazil

Gillian Freeman was born in London in 1929. She graduated in English Language and Literature from the University of Reading in 1951. As a novelist she took advantage of the increasingly liberal climate of the 1960s to tackle controversial subjects such as homosexuality. Her novel The Leather Boys, written under the pseudonym of Eliot George and published in 1961, was filmed, with a screenplay written by Freeman, in 1964. Directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Rita Tushingham, Colin Campbell and Dudley Sutton, this was not the first film to tackle the subject but has become a cult classic.

In 1967 Gillian Freeman caused a stir with a work of non-fiction The Undergrowth of Literature, a study of contemporary publications devoted to fetishes and dominant and submissive relationships. Along with more novels and work for radio and television, she has continued to write non-fiction, most of it less controversial, notably her study of the author Angela Brazil The Schoolgirl Ethic.

Access conditions: Open to all researchers. No reader's ticket is required but an appointment is necessary. Check www.reading.ac.uk/library/special-collections/using/lib-special-using.asp for contact details and opening hours.

Papers presented by the author on permanent loan, 1970&1978

Description prepared by Gil Skidmore

The collection is partially listed to item level

Publishing files relating to Gillian Freeman can be found in the Longman Archive in Reading University Library