Queer Friendship : Male Intimacy in the English Literary Tradition

"Friendship in the classical world was celebrated as among the highest human achievements: nothing was more likely to lead to the divine than looking for it in the eyes of a friend. In exploring the complexities of male-male relations beyond the simple labels of sexuality, Queer Friendship shows how love between men has a rich and varied history in English literature. The friend could offer a reflection of one's own worth and a celebration of a kind of mutuality that was not connected to family or home. These same-sex friendships are memorable because they give shape to the novels of which they are a part, and question the assumption that the love between friends is different from the love between lovers. Queer Friendship explores English literary friendship in three ways: the elegiac, the erotic, and the platonic, by considering a myriad of works, including Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Tennyson's 'In Memoriam A. H. H.', and Dickens' Great Expectations." -- Publisher's description Introduction: Male Friendship And Greek Love -- Elegiac Friendship. Alas, Poor Yorick!: Elegiac Friendship In Tristram Shandy -- The Last Vich Ian Vohr: History As Loss In Waverley -- O Sorrow, Wilt Thou Live With Me?: Love And Loss In Tennyson's In Memoriam -- Jacob! Jacob!: The Culture Of Loss In Jacob's Room -- Erotic Friendship. Smollett's World Of Masculine Desire In Roderick Random -- Adultery And Friendship In Fielding's Amelia -- The Abyss Of Friendship In Godwin's Caleb Williams -- The Horror Of Friendlessness In Frankenstein -- Platonic Friendship. The Meaning Of Friendship In Great Expectations -- The Failure Of Friendship In Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray -- Platonic Love In The Longest Journey And Maurice -- Epilogue: Queer Friendship In A Single Man. George E. Haggerty. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Queer Friendship shows how love between men has a rich and varied history in English literature. Only rarely specifically sexual, these same-sex friendships are memorable because they give shape to the novels of which they are a part, and question the assumption that the love between friends is different from the love between lovers. Introduction: male friendship and Greek love 1. Elegiac friendship 2. Erotic friendship 3. Platonic friendship Epilogue: queer friendship in Isherwood's A Single Man.