Edward Prime-Stevenson (1858–1942)

A gay novella from 1906 mostly remarkable for having a happy ending. The frequent monologuing is heavy going, but the story is pretty good. Some of the views the characters express are likely to provoke a bit of eye rolling from modern audiences, but it's not so bad when you remember those views are a response to the contemporary social and medical attitudes toward homosexuality.

I find this a rather challenging text to review. I greatly appreciate the overarching theme and tone, but most readers will be put off by the stilted if erudite language. This short book felt, in my mind at least, as a mix between an early Gordon Merrick novel with an ending evocative of Maurice [written just a few years later].This is a story full of lengthy ruminations about unrequited longing, fears of discovery, and the long road to self-acceptance.

The characters don't dialogue so much show more as monologue, which gives a plodding feel to the modern reader. That said, the delayed gratification seemed to make it all the more worthwhile, so I'm ultimately ambivalent whether this is a work of fiction or philosophy. Given that the author's other significant work is much the latter, perhaps it is best approached as a kind of Socratic dialogue rather than a gripping narrative.

A moving disquisition on friendship, the work is nonetheless definitely dated. While an early positive defense and characterization of male desire, the characters speak at length about the fact that they are real men in all ways except this one, and disparagingly of anyone who displays womanish or effeminate qualities. This is a tale defending the "butch" homosexuals, rather than every other one.

The edition had several minor editorial errors, but not enough to be distracting. show less

Presented as something of a memoir written at the request of, and addressed to, Xavier Mayne (the pseudonym under which this work was originally published), this short work paints an elaborately detailed picture of the rapidly developing relationship between two men. Oswald, the nominal author,and an older British aristocrat living casually in Szent-Istvánhely, meets young Imre, a Magyar soldier in the Hungarian Army, in a café, and strikes up a conversation. We are them pr.esented with show more details about their conversions annotated in great detail by Oswald’s alternating analysis and rhapsody about the wonder of Imre.

For a work published in 1906, the book is remarkably frank about (and ultimately proud of) homosexuality. Of course, in keeping with the rejection of “the Uranian Race” by society, the pair keep up “the Mask” hiding their true selves. This “Mask” is Prime-Stevenson’s metaphor throughout the book, with the chapter titles reinforcing the continual dropping of boundaries as their friendship progresses.hiding Eventually Oswald can’t keep his feelings from Imre any longe and in a long, excitingly written coming-out speech, he tells Imre his story of subverted love, pain, and psychiatric treatment that led to his ultimate acceptance of and comfort with his “condition”, even if society doesn’t agree.

This edition is a print-on-demand republication of what is now a public domain work. The print quality is good, and the cover design is strong (a simple pattern with a bold title, characteristic of all this publishers works). This model is excellent for resurrecting forgotten and low-demand works that are still relevant. However, the typesetting seems denser than necessary; larger margins would make reading easier. Having title on the spine would be nice as well. The bigger issue is the large number of typos in the text - mostly “of”s turned to “or”s, “life”s to “like”s, and similar likely OCR errors. A proofreading pass by the publisher would be well recommended. show less

This book feels like one of those typical children's adventure books for its time (although the characters may be a little older than they typically are, although I do think they are rather naïve). A couple of kids keep running into trouble and need to solve it without adult help. Lots of convenient coincidences occur, as they do in the kinds of stories. The characters are simple and clearly good or bad. While some of the terminology may be unfamiliar, it is very easy to follow due to the show more simplistic plot wound around these two boys.

The author intended for it to read as gay , but I would say that it still largely reads as a friendship. There are some lines that hint at something more, but even so, they can still be read as being close friends. This is, however, understandable given the times as anything clearly gay was shunned. It was a fun, easy read and definitely holds an important place in queer literature. show less