[indycur7]

So much of what might be considered a queer cannon stems from the work of literary pioneers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Long before overt homosexuality, indeed in some cases before such a term existed, we find in prose and verse some wonderful examples of men loving men. This love, of course, is not the Wildeian no-named sort but a quieter more subdued scene of what was later to come.

As a student and a reader I was wondering if any of you have any favorites in this genre. Where have you found such homosocial relationships? Any in some surprising texts? I've always loved war novels myself...and where else does the bond of man become stronger than in the face of death?

[Paloma]

I study literature, so of course homosexual and homosocial literature must be interesting for me. At the moment I think Maurice by E. M. Forster is my favorite homosocial book. I know it is probably on the edge of homosexual, but I still think it has a lot of the innocence of homosocial literature.

[indycur7]

[Paloma]

I haven't read that book. At the time I don't have time to read a lot of homosocial or homosexual literature, because I spend all my time reading the books I have to read. Unfortunately. I hope I will have time to read something else in the summer holidays. Until then I must be patient.

[Carew]

I read this novel in the late 1960's when I was in high-school before I realized that I was gay, though I did know that I was somehow different. I enjoyed it and it stuck in my mind. I remembered it as a story of a friendship between two prep-school boys that ultimately ended tragically. Years later I re-read it. There's nothing overtly gay about it but it's clearly a story about the love between two boys that could not be expressed because of the time and circumstances, with ultimately tragic consequences. It might be considered dated now but reading it was an early experience in my own eventual coming to terms with being gay.
_________________
Tim Carew

[Jimdan]

[Jimdan]