The American Byron: Homosexuality and the Fall of Fitz-Greene HalleckHailed in the mid-nineteenth century as the most important American poet of the period, Fitz-Greene Halleck was a close friend of William C. Bryant, an associate of Charles Dickens and Washington Irving, and a celebrity sought out by John Jacob Astor and American presidents. Halleck, an attractive man of wit and charm, was dubbed "the American Byron" because he both employed similar poetic strategies and challenged the most sacred institutions of his day. A large general readership enjoyed his verse, though it was infused with homosexual themes. Indeed, Halleck's love for another man would be fictionalized in Bayard Taylor's novel Joseph and His Friend a century before the Stonewall riots. |
From inside the book
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... literary friends . " He declined to be photographed for Putnam's Magazine , asking instead to be illus- trated " not as I am but as I ought to be " -words echoed in his initial refusal to be photographed by M. B. Brady : " I much prefer ...
... Literary Walk . Though New York City mayor Smith Ely graciously responded to remarks by the country's president , he was clearly annoyed by the trampling of the mall , which motivated him to create an ordinance prohibiting future ...
... literary history in this country could iden- tify off - hand the name of Fitz - Greene Halleck . " 18 His radical fall from fame demonstrates the politics of decanonization , just as his decanoniza- tion negates his significant ...
... Literary Messenger's Moral and Mental Portrait Series ( 1842 ) further iso- lated the already reclusive poet with its sexually suspicious terminology . The reviewer , who had previously had hostile dealings with Halleck , ac- cused his ...
... literary exile . In a letter written that year , N. P. Wil- lis asked the rhetorical question , “ How is it that Fitz - Greene Halleck has never let himself be known to audiences ? " 26 Halleck answered the inquiry with his last major ...
Contents
Shepherds of Sodomy | 17 |
Love and War | 42 |
The Widow Halleck | 67 |
Conquer and Divide | 92 |
A Return to Ganymede | 121 |
Halleck and His Friend | 151 |
Notes | 177 |
196 | |
217 | |