Pages Passed from Hand to Hand The Hidden Tradition of Homosexual Literature in English from 1748 to 1914, an Anthology

Mitchell, Mark and David Leavitt (editors)

ISBN 10: 0395837057 / ISBN 13: 9780395837054

Published by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1997

About this Item

First Edition with full numberline. SIGNED by David Leavitt on full title page. "A unique anthology - both entertaining and revelatory - that charts the 'hidden tradition' of gay writing over the last two centuries." Ships same or next business day. Slight slant to spine. Minor edge wear. Edges of pages are tanned. Pages are slightly rippled. Otherwise, text is clean. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 458 pages; Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 72696

Bibliographic Details

Title: Pages Passed from Hand to Hand The Hidden ...

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston

Publication Date: 1997

Binding: Softcover

Condition: Very Good+

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First Edition; First Printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

Before E. M. Forster's Maurice, written in 1914, introduced a new openness about the favorable depiction of homosexuality in English fiction, a number of novels and stories carried coded portraits of homosexuals and homosexuality. Many of these were, by necessity, published privately; still others were written to insure that the homosexual component would be recognizable to a select few; still others embedded homosexual content within such "safe" genres as the Western and the public school novel. There have been several recent anthologies of twentieth-century gay fiction, but David Leavitt and Mark Mitchell's fascinating book is the first to explore the texts that circulated before the "gay fiction" genre came into being, and before greater tolerance allowed writers to treat homosexual themes directly. Leavitt and Mitchell include extracts from stories and novels by well-known writers such as Herman Melville, Walter Pater, Henry James, Willa Cather, and D. H. Lawrence, as well as work from neglected figures such as Count Eric Stenbock, John Francis Bloxam, "Alan Dale," and Gerald Hamilton -- the inspiration for Christopher Isherwood's Mr. Norris. The result is an entertaining and revelatory anthology, and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the literary treatment of homosexuality.

Synopsis:

Contains texts written prior to 1914 which introduced a new openness toward homosexuality.