- Paperback: 262 pages
- Publisher: Cormorant Books (May 26 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 189695183X
- ISBN-13: 978-1896951836
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #906,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Was the author of Peter Pan a pedophile? There's been a great deal of speculation on the subject in academic circles, much of it inspired by J.M. Barrie's unusually close relationship to his adopted son Michael Llewelyn Davies, who died of an apparent suicide in 1921. It's also a question that troubles Manny Masters, the narrator in the fourth novel by Toronto writer Sky Gilbert. Intricately constructed and curiously moving, An English Gentleman is both a satire of academics obsessed with the sexual proclivities of dead famous people, and a portrait of a lonely man who relates very deeply to the controversial bond between Barrie and his doomed favourite son.
Masters is a Manhattan high school teacher who has a distaste "for everything which calls itself 'gay,'" despite being perfectly open about his own sexual preference (and celibacy). His patrician contempt extends to the lifestyle of his friend Leslie Sexton, a scholar whose enthusiasms include explicit Mapplethorpe photos and the private life of J.M. Barrie. After Sexton dies, Masters inherits a trove of never-before-published letters between Barrie and Davies. Touching and often exquisitely written, the letters, which are Gilbert's invention, are evidence of the deep love between Barrie and his ward, though it's ambiguous whether this love was the kind that dared not speak its name. Masters reprints them here alongside his comments, included because of his fears that the letters will be misinterpreted. As he writes, "they reflect back what we offer to them."
An unusually careful writer, Gilbert convincingly replicates the archaic prose style of Barrie and Davies' correspondence. But of course, An English Gentleman is less about the orientation of Peter Pan's creator than the fraught, repressed emotional life of the novel's narrator. Though the parallels between the events in the letters and Masters's own affairs are clear even to the narrator, what interests the author more is delineating the many different kinds of love that exist--carnal, Platonic, paternal--and portraying what can happen when one kind is mistaken for another. Masters is right to regard the letters as a mirror and he is pained by what he sees. --Jason Anderson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
Winner of the 2005 ReLit Award (Novel)
Manny Masters is a failed graduate student of English Literature. He is bequeathed by his mentor, Leslie Sexton, a collection of letters stolen from the home of Nicholas Llewelyn Davies, the only surviving adopted son of J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. The letters are what survives of a correspondence that included up to 2,000 exchanges between adoptive father and son, Michael Llewelyn Davies. In Manny's hands, these letters become academic fodder — the basis for a dissertation that examines the presumed romantic relationship between Barrie and his charge.
Set against the backdrop of New York City after the worst of the AIDS crisis has passed, the novel explores the relationship between the suppression of sexual desire and the development of a kind of death wish for the beloved.
Manny Masters is a failed graduate student of English Literature. He is bequeathed by his mentor, Leslie Sexton, a collection of letters stolen from the home of Nicholas Llewelyn Davies, the only surviving adopted son of J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. The letters are what survives of a correspondence that included up to 2,000 exchanges between adoptive father and son, Michael Llewelyn Davies. In Manny's hands, these letters become academic fodder — the basis for a dissertation that examines the presumed romantic relationship between Barrie and his charge.
Set against the backdrop of New York City after the worst of the AIDS crisis has passed, the novel explores the relationship between the suppression of sexual desire and the development of a kind of death wish for the beloved.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally!,
By Sarah Breckman (Vancouver) - See all my reviews
This review is from: An English Gentleman (Hardcover)
At last Gilbert has written an intelligent, disciplined work instead of the usual self-indulgent, semiautobiographical, mildly pornographic chatter of his previous novels.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Read!,
By A Customer
This review is from: An English Gentleman (Hardcover)
Sky Gilbert, one of Canada's premiere playwrights, has written an extremely entertaining fourth novel. You must buy it now! You will not regret it!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally!,
By Sarah Breckman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: An English Gentleman (Hardcover)
At last Gilbert has written an intelligent, disciplined work instead of the usual self-indulgent, semiautobiographical, mildly pornographic chatter of his previous novels.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Read!,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: An English Gentleman (Hardcover)
Sky Gilbert, one of Canada's premiere playwrights, has written an extremely entertaining fourth novel. You must buy it now! You will not regret it!
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