• “Hellenism and Homoeroticism in Shelley and his Circle” was first published in the Journal of Homosexuality (Volume 49, Numbers 3/4 2005) and as a book chapter. It gives a partial overview of my next book, tentatively titled: Male Love in the Shelley-Byron Circle. To read it click here.

• “Homoeroticism in Epipsychidion” is a gay reading of Percy Bysshe Shelley's most problematic poem. It uses footnote annotation to explicate the beautiful and erotic ending of Epipsychidion and the highly revealing “Passages of the poem, or connected therewith”, which were not published with it. To read “Homoeroticism in Epipsychidion” click here.

• “Shelley's Ashes” recounts male couples who were buried together in a common tomb. It argues that ashes of the great English poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, are mixed together with those of his beloved friend, Edward Ellerker Williams. To read “Shelley's Ashes” click here.

• “The Sleeping Venus” — an excerpt from Thomas Love Peacock's 1831 novel, Crochet Castle — is a marvelous specimen of high camp and a vigorous assault on sexual prudery. It contains definite homoerotic references. To read “The Sleeping Venus” click here.

• Fiona MacCarthy's 2002 biography, Byron: Life and Legend, is the best ever written. To read my review click here.

• Percy Bysshe Shelley's translation of Plato's dialogue on Love, the Symposium (or Banquet) is almost unknown, even among students of English literature — yet it is by far the best in English, a masterpiece in its own right. The 2001 Pagan Press edition is the only one in print, and the only one for many decades, to publish both Shelley's translation and his introductory essay, “A Discourse on the Manners of the Antient (sic) Greeks Relative to the Subject of Love”. For a description and reviews of this and other Pagan Press books click here.

• My recent book, The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein, has three theses: 1) Frankenstein is a great work, which has consistently been underrated and misinterpreted; 2) the real author of Frankenstein is Percy Bysshe Shelley, not his second wife, the former Mary Godwin; and 3) male love is a central theme of Frankenstein. To visit the Frankenstein Pages click here.



Home