Publisher's Synopsis
A biography of a homosexual writer by a gay literary historian, this book offers not only the first published life of Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909), but also a wealth of new material on the formation of gender roles in late 19th-century America.;Admired in his own time as the author of exotic and humorous travel books, Stoddard is perhaps of more interest today for his unabashed love of men at the historical moment when "homosexuality" was taking a recognizably modern shape. All those who knew him, including many of the major writers of the age, agreed that Stoddard had a genius for geniality, and he spent much of his life circulating among his friends in Europe, the South Seas, California and the East. Yet Stoddard's "double life" also drew him into the company of those who shared his same-sexuality. How these men imagined themselves and how they built networks of association are part of the larger story here, one that has scarcely begun to be told.;The author takes Stoddard's life from his early years in California through his odysseys around the world to his later academic career at Notre Dame and Catholic universities. Stoddard's literary friendships are discussed in detail, as are his erotic relationships: his sexual initiation by Polynesian youths; his affair with artist Frank Millet; his long line of "kids", as he called the young men he desired.;Roger Austen, who completed this book before his death in 1984, was a pioneer in the study of gay literary forebears. He has written a compelling narrative of Stoddard's quest for success as a writer and happiness as a lover.
