Choice Review
Bristow (Univ. of York) wisely narrowed the focus of this study as his research proceeded. He concentrates on the careers of three homosexual authors--Oscar Wilde, E.M. Forster, and Ronald Firbank--concluding with an insightful chapter on the politics of identity in male homosexual autobiography. In analyzing Wilde, he explores the homosexual who makes no effort to conceal his sexual identity, while in his discussion of Forster, he examines the antieffeminacy of a closeted homosexual whose openly gay novel, Maurice, was withheld from publication until after the author's death. Ronald Firbank represents what Bristow terms "exotic effeminacy." The starting point of this study is 1885, the year in which the Labouchere Amendment became the eleventh clause of Britain's Criminal Law Amendment Act. This amendment banned acts of "gross indecency," public and private, between men and was the basis for Oscar Wilde's prosecution and eventual imprisonment. This well-written and thoroughly researched book is a worthy successor to Alan Sinfield's The Wilde Century (1994). It maintains the high standards of previous volumes in the "Between Men--Between Women" series. Useful index, comprehensive bibliography. Strongly recommended for upper-division undergraduate collections and above. R. B. Shuman; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Choice Review
Bristow (Univ. of York) wisely narrowed the focus of this study as his research proceeded. He concentrates on the careers of three homosexual authors--Oscar Wilde, E.M. Forster, and Ronald Firbank--concluding with an insightful chapter on the politics of identity in male homosexual autobiography. In analyzing Wilde, he explores the homosexual who makes no effort to conceal his sexual identity, while in his discussion of Forster, he examines the antieffeminacy of a closeted homosexual whose openly gay novel, Maurice, was withheld from publication until after the author's death. Ronald Firbank represents what Bristow terms "exotic effeminacy." The starting point of this study is 1885, the year in which the Labouchere Amendment became the eleventh clause of Britain's Criminal Law Amendment Act. This amendment banned acts of "gross indecency," public and private, between men and was the basis for Oscar Wilde's prosecution and eventual imprisonment. This well-written and thoroughly researched book is a worthy successor to Alan Sinfield's The Wilde Century (1994). It maintains the high standards of previous volumes in the "Between Men--Between Women" series. Useful index, comprehensive bibliography. Strongly recommended for upper-division undergraduate collections and above. R. B. Shuman; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
