Synopses & Reviews
Although their settings span a wide geographical area, from the South Pacific to India, MaughaM&Apos;s exotic short stories, novels, and travelogues all, ultimately, focus on the creation of a masculine British identity. In this first book to address MaughaM&Apos;s fiction in light of recent developments in postcolonial, gender, and cultural theory, Holden argues that MaughaM&Apos;s work can be understood as an attempt to negotiate between two alternative masculine identities: those of private homosexual and public writer. Holden identifies MaughaM&Apos;s attempts to cultivate a public persona as a writer whose heterosexuality is confirmed through a process of control of language. Furthermore, Holden illuminates the fluidity of language that Maugham, in contrast to his public persona, associated with homosexuality. The basis of this study is the provocative notion that MaughaM&Apos;s texts, despite their exotic locations, ultimately dramatize a struggle over masculine British identity.
Review
Holden offers a critical analysis of Maugham's South Seas and oriental fiction and of one additional novel, The Razor's Edge.... Because of its critical methodology, the book may interest advanced scholars in gay and lesbian studies.Choice
Synopsis
This is the first book to study Maugham in light of recent developments in postcolonial, gender, and cultural theory; arguing that Maugham's work can be understood as an attempt to negotiate between two alternative masculine identities: those of private homosexual and public writer.
Synopsis
guing that Maugham's work can be understood as an attempt to negotiate between two alternative masculine identities: those of private homosexual and public writer.
About the Author
PHILIP HOLDEN is a Lecturer at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Envisioning the Primitive: The Moon and Sixpence
The Trembling of a Leaf and the Closet of Nostalgia
The Flaneur Abroad: On A Chinese Screen
The Empty Sign of The Painted Veil
Transgression and Containment: The Malayan Short Stories
The Narrow Corner: Intoxication, Homoeroticism, and the Writing Cure
Transcending Sexuality: India and The Razor's Edge
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index