Title: Effeminate England
Subtitle: Homoerotic Writing after 1885
First published: 1995
Description: In Effeminate England, Joseph Bristow explores the legacy of effeminacy in homoerotic literature that began more than a century ago with the 1885 Labouchere Amendment criminalizing male homosexual contact and Oscar Wilde's subsequent incarceration.

This broad overview looks into the century that followed these defining moments in the history of gay literature, demonstrating how the effeminate behavior that came to be connected so solidly with male homosexual identity has manifested itself in the literature of gay male writers in England.

Effeminate England focuses closely on the works and lives of several prominent British literary figures of the past century, including E. M. Forster, John Addington Symonds, and Quentin Crisp. In a concluding section, Bristow evaluates the impact of the AIDS epidemic on gay men's writing and offers a thoughtful, original reading of Alan Hollinghurst's highly regarded recent novel, The Swimming Pool Library.
Subjects: History and criticism, English literature, Homosexuality and literature, History, Gay men's writings, English, Androgyny (Psychology) in literature, Male authors, Gay men in literature, Gender identity in literature, Homosexuality, Male, in literature, Literature, Male homosexuality, in literature, Gender, English literature, history and criticism, 20th century, English literature, history and criticism, 19th century, Gays' writings, history and criticism, Homosexuality in literature, Fiction, gay, Fiction, lgbtq+, gay, Male homosexuality in literature
Places: England
Time periods: 20th century, 19th century
LC classification: PR468.H65 B75 1995