#e. f. benson

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

British gay/bi male writers and their social circles

As a great admirer of gay literature, the social circles of gay and bisexual male writers is something that piques my interest. Due to the dangerousness of the matter in the past and also because it revolves around a relatively small niche, it seems that there was high level familiarity between these figures. The United Kingdom, a country whose literary input has abundant homoerotic tones, is a very adequate setting to analyze such a configuration.

I've been building a graph on this subject for some time, and now it seems mature enough for me to post it. It's a diagram based on friendship connections — deep or superficial —, although romantic and family-related connections are also included. Just a mutual recognition of existence isn't enough to justify a connection (otherwise most of them would be linked to Wilde!), and rivalries were not considered too. All the writers included were born during the Victorian and Edwardian eras (1837-1910), where this interconnectivity seemed particularly strong.

This is just an early version, as I imagine there is still a considerable amount of information that I missed. Therefore, I'm very open to suggestions and comments on it!

(Three Irishmen were also included in the diagram: Stoker, Wilde and Reid)

[weirdlookindog]

Virgil Finlay (1914–1971) - At the Farm House

(Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1946)

[fredbensonenthusiast]

The invention of Radclyffe Hall

Simon Goldhill, writing about the Benson family, makes a very interesting comparison between the trial of Oscar Wilde, and the obscenity 'trial' of Radclyffe Hall, author of 'The Well of Loneliness', and the publicity surrounding it, which, he feels, created certain stereotypes of men and women who were same-sex attracted.

Secondly, Radclyffe Hall’s own photographic portrait, which circulated very widely at this time, emphasized the masculinity of her appearance and dress—with short-cropped hair and male clothes....... The contrast between the bustles, dresses, and elaborate coiffure of the late Victorian and Edwardian period and the trousers, flat lines, and short hair of the roaring twenties resulted in a mass of journalistic flummery—cartoons, editorial comment, shocking photographs, amused articles—about the new New Woman and the confusion of masculine and feminine in dress and behavior. Radclyffe Hall’s clothes and demeanor were in a line with such fashions but also became a defining characteristic of the “masculine woman” as the paradigm of sexual inversion. Much as Oscar Wilde’s trial helped fix a stereotype of the homosexual, so Radclyffe Hall was instrumental in the establishment of the image of the lesbian as a masculine woman, short-haired, dressed in male clothes, adopting a male demeanor, even wearing a monocle and smoking a cigarette.

Goldhill, Simon. A Very Queer Family Indeed: Sex, Religion, and the Bensons in Victorian Britain, 2016

[theshatterednotes]

E. F. Benson, British author

[yourdailyqueer]

E. F. Benson (deceased)

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 24 July 1867  

RIP: 29 February 1940

Ethnicity: White - English

Occupation: Writer, archaeologist

[artisthomes]

Lamb House, home of Henry James and E. F. Benson, in Rye, East Sussex, England

[phantomato]

Hello there! I am 'asking for a friend' here, as I have just set up a new EF Benson sideblog and having seen your pinned post I feel sure you must have read David Blaize? And if so I would love to hear your thoughts on the book!

Yes, you’re correct in guessing that I have! I’ve got some thoughts over on DW as well, though they’re about two years old now, so take that for what it’s worth!

DB was my first school novel and made me fall in love with the genre. It’s just such a good story above everything else. David and friends are so genuinely fun, and their hijinks are entertaining, and their dramas are affecting. I love how Benson writes people. He’s fantastic at observation, which makes his characters well-rounded. Nothing but good things to say about the two David books as reading experiences (discounting David and the Blue Door, which I skipped).

But the thing which keeps DB compelling to me years on is Frank Maddox. David is fun, but Frank makes me feel things. Oh, god, Frank’s monologue of self-recrimination after he attempts to kiss David and is turned down… ! I adore all of his agonizing during the beach holiday, too. And Frank’s story is what makes me such a fan of David of King’s, though I know a lot of fans don’t particularly enjoy that book. I just, mm, I love this morose, brilliant, talented, repressed, academic soul.

I didn’t come out of the books shipping the obvious choice of Frank/David. I’ve generally preferred Frank with other characters, and have written Frank/Hughes myself. I’m also interested in the idea of Frank in a crossover ship or with an original character. I know I’m not alone in this take. I struggle to see David as being happy in an explicitly sexual and romantic partnership of the sort that Frank clearly wants, and so I can’t reconcile long-term David/Frank as being both happy and appropriate for their characters. I have a lot of fondness for David and for their friendship, still. But I am not interested in fannish stories about David, as I think the books provide what I want for him.

So cool to hear about your new sideblog! I will keep an eye out for your posts on the series. :)

[mindibindi]

[ibrithir-was-here]

Tell us a bit about Lu's friends her own age! Have they made any new local friends since moving away from the London social scene?

Ah! So I have long had Lu as a friend since childhood with good old Bertie Wooster, ( who goodness knows needs some proper friends), and also later with Sara Crewe of ‘A Little Princess’ fame (they can bond over childhood cleaning trauma, yay 🙃).

She’s also friends with Ben Edward’s, who works in her fathers inner circle of vampire hunters, having had his own run in with a vampire in a certain “Room in (a) Tower”. Arthur even hoped they’d become more than friends at some point, but Lu quickly gathered Ben’s attentions lay in a rather opposite direction (he and Hal Fairfield from my Rosemary story are an item)

In my attempts to pull in more of Bram Stokers other works (of varying quality) I like to think she’s got one friend who’s a grandchild of the folks from the bizarre “Lair of the White Worm”

She and Quincey are both very outgoing people so they’ve definitely made a score of friends since moving to Devon, even if people do tend to double take when first meeting Quincey

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

Hello, asking for a friend 😉, I think you mentioned before that 'David of Kings' was a 'great' book because it managed to say so much at a time when options were limited. I recently re-read and was amazed at how much I had missed the first time round, but I would love to hear more of your thoughts on the topic....

Hey,

I would say the original David Blaize has the edge in the "saying a lot in a time when options were limited" category — though I think David of King's is the superior novel.

Apprehension about homosexuality is David Blaize's main conflict; there is always a hint of tension hanging over the plot, despite it being a lighthearted novel overall. This feeling fades in David of King's, because, as I mentioned to you some days ago, Benson kinda treats David and Frank as if they were in a established relationship, without further bothering to discuss the implications of such a situation.

Having said that, one of David of King's greatest strengths is its charming portrayal of Edwardian society, and yeah, Benson can be quite suggestive about things he felt should not be said aloud (like that scene with David and the "cocoon").

Sorry I took so long to answer this one, by the way! 😉

[autumngravity]

Please give me Randall knowing about Olivia because of Bernie mixing her and Kathy up around him.

Cause we know Bernie has mixied them up in the past and it would be the messiest way for Randall to get info about her.

[fredbensonenthusiast]

Hugh Benson's David Blaize vibes 😮

We know that the characters in David Blaize are a composite, however personal it was to Fred, but it had not occurred to me before what influence his younger brother might have had on the book. Hugh had a stammer, and Fred describes him thus:

It was pursuits of some sort that encompassed and enthralled him: he was both in boyhood and manhood always doing something with such fervour (and usually many things together ), that he had no energy left for consciously being something, either lover or friend, still less enemy.

He died in 1914, shortly before Fred began writing David Blaize. This flight of fancy relating to Hugh's instructions for his burial feels pure David Blaize to me:

[lotrmusical]

concatenations of circumstance have led me to embark upon something i'm referring to as 'bensontober', aka 'what if i read an e f benson story every day in the leadup to halloween'. we'll see how many i make it through and what sort of effect it has on my brain

[frimleyblogger]

Who Killed The Curate?

My thoughts on Who Killed the Curate? by #JoanCoggin reissued by @GalileoPublishers #CrimeFiction #BookReview

A review of Who Killed The Curate? By Joan Coggin – 231210 Joan Coggin, who also went by the name of Joanna Lloyd, is a new crime writer to me. Who Killed The Curate?, sub-titled as a Christmas mystery and set at Christmas 1937, was originally published in 1944 and is now reissued by Galileo Publishers. It is the first of four novels to feature Lady Lupin, the improbable wife of the Vicar of…

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party 1986

"Dead Man's Party" is a song by American band Oingo Boingo, released as the third single from their fifth studio album of the same name. The song was released on a 12" single in conjunction with another song from the album, "Stay". It is perhaps best known for its appearance in the 1986 film Back to School, where the band performed it at a party.

The lyric, "I hear the chauffeur coming to my door/Says there's room for maybe just one more," is a reference to "The Bus-Conductor," a short story by E. F. Benson about a hearse driver, first published in The Pall Mall Magazine in 1906. The story has been adapted several times and spawned an urban legend, with each version using the catchphrase, "Room for one more".

Danny Elfman performed the song as the final encore of his Nightmare Before Christmas concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in 2015, 2016, and 2018, and at Banc of California Stadium in 2021, alongside his former Oingo Boingo guitarist and arranger Steve Bartek.

"Dead Man's Party" received a total of 80,9% yes votes! Previous Danny Elfman polls: #5 "This Is Halloween".

[phantomato]

Do you have recs for boarding school books? The gayer the better, bonus points for an Edwardian setting.

Yes!!! I love you for this question, anon!

My favorite of all time: The Fifth Form at St. Dominic’s This is just so delightfully slashy between the main leads, Oliver Greenfield and Edward Loman. Oliver is our hero, tempted by anger and competitiveness in his rivalry with Loman, who is a smart but troubled boy. We get to see both of their POVs as they head towards the harrowing end of the school year, and the academic prize that will define their futures. Oliver also has a best friend and a younger brother who play major roles.

If you haven’t read it yet, do: David Blaize This is one of the main starting points for the gay boarding school novel genre, both because it captures all of the tropes of the genre well and because it is textually gay. David Blaize and his friend, Frank Maddox, have an intimate, romantic friendship that Frank explicitly would like to make physical. Frank is a heartthrob and I dare anyone not to love him. There’s two sequel novels, but the only one you might want read is called David of King’s, which is unfortunately not digitized on PG yet.

If you like the above and can handle reading against the text: The Hill: A Romance of Friendship The level of aggressive moralizing in this is so high that it wraps back around and becomes silly. The protagonist, John Verney, is a prig—but read any single one of his descriptions of either his eventual rival, Scaife, or the boy he admires, Desmond, and you’ll find lush depictions of attraction. Verney desires these boys, and watching his denial over it all is compelling in and of itself.

I log all of my reading over here and there’s more boarding school novels in that backlog, if these aren’t enough. But they’re my favorite place to get started, and I hope you have a good time + come back and talk to me about it! :D