Henry James and Homo-Erotic Desire

This collection of essays represents the first book to explore the complex influence of homosexuality on the life and fiction of Henry James. An extensive biographical introduction is complemented by an essay documenting James' friendships with younger men, which includes quotations from unpublished letters. Other subjects include the influence on James of the emergence of a specific concept of the homosexual in Victorian England and James' reactions to the aesthetic movement. New, often radical, perspectives on stories from all phases of James' career are also included.