Re:Henry James's family tried to keep him in the closet (2016)
by foldr on Saturday May 10, 2025 @12:33PM
(#43946906)
The Wikipedia article doesn't conclude any such thing. It notes that he sent lots of sexually suggestive letters to his gay friends. It also argues, somewhat unconvincingly, that he didn't do this only with men — but that just shows that he may also have been sexually interested in women, not that he wasn't sexually interested in men.
> And the article notes his propensity to burn manuscripts and letters - so his preserving so much evidence of an actual dire (by standards of the time) character flaw seem pretty dubious.
People obviously received the letters, and may have kept them whether James retained copies of them or not.
Re:Henry James's family tried to keep him in the closet (2016)
by squigz on Saturday May 10, 2025 @09:16PM
(#43950420)
Direct evidence would be, what, exactly? Nude paintings?
> so his preserving so much evidence of an actual dire (by standards of the time) character flaw seem pretty dubious.
Another explanation would be that he didn't consider it a character flaw.
I'm ambivalent on his actual sexual interest in men. Wikipedia concludes that direct evidence is nonexistent. "In private correspondence" doesn't somehow force the baring of his true soul. And the article notes his propensity to burn manuscripts and letters - so his preserving so much evidence of an actual dire (by standards of the time) character flaw seem pretty dubious.
Yes, obviously his family wanted to prevent scandal. But that'd be true whether or not the scandal had any basis in fact.