I’m not sure exactly why this thought popped into my mind, but now that it is there, I can’t let it go and it.seems.to.make.perfect.sense. clearly, I am going insane.
Regarding Pride and Prejudice.
What If…Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley were closeted gay lovers? Possible, especially with the way Bingley seems to need Darcy’s permission to go after the woman that Darcy shooed away from him ( to keep Bingley all to himself.) because it seemed an unsuitable match. ( Darcy, the minx, was lusting after Bingley.)
It makes even farther sense that the pair marry sisters, so that they can keep up proper appearances and their forbidden love.
After all Mr. Darcy did for the woman he (supposedly) loved, he could have actually done it for the man he loved and the shame marriages they would make with the sisters and their Great Scheme Of Things would fall through if Bingley couldn’t marry Jane, who would be ruined by the entire affair with Lydia and Mr. Wickham.)
And I’m starting to think that maybe Mr. Wickham had some dirty bisexual hijinks going on with the both the Darcy siblings.
I feel so dirty now.
I see one in the Jeeves and Wooster stories by P G Wodehouse, though more in the PBS TV version than in the written stories.
Bertie’s gay- that’s why he’s so desperate to avoid getting engaged to any of the girls. He and Jeeves are gay lovers, which is why Jeeves bails him out of so many situations.
There is so much art deco production design in the Poirot shows, I doubt any straight male character could last more than five minutes in that environment. Same with Campion, for that matter.
H. Rider Haggard’s novel She is probably the most crypto-gay misogynist book I’ve ever read. It could easily be made into a hilariously camp burlesque stage play. Short version: An intellectual bachelor professor battles a goddesslike immortal sorceress for the soul of his beautiful, blond dumb-as-a-rock young pupil.
Moby Dick is the gayest classic ever written. The gayness starts with the dedication to Nathaniel Hawthorne and progresses to men spooning, whale penises, and romps in spermacetti. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Then you have to read…err…dammit…now I can’t remember the actual title. The Censored Jane Austin? The Hidden Jane Austin? Which has all the sex scenes “Jane Austin” left out of her work. I don’t recall Darcy and Bingley being there, but they should be…maybe you should collaborate.
Benito Cereno too. Jesus Christ, but Babo and Cereno have a messed up relationship–Cereno is totally Babo’s bitch. I just wrote a paper about homosexuality in that story/novella/whatever, and I could have gone on for far longer than I had room for. If you ask me, Melville had a taste for manflesh.
I have been informed by a good friend that if I ever have a need for soft-core porn (male/female, I’m afraid), that Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife should go at the top of my list. Apparently, Darcy is a consummate lover, while Bingley is less than accomplished.
Not to mention that in the chapter “The Cassock” they dress up one of the crew in the skin from the whale’s penis. One of those things they don’t tell you about in high school.
Say, speaking of detectives, not only is the mentioned-obliquely Sherlock Holmes notoriously wary of women, but so is Nero Wolfe, who lives in a houseful of guys…
The censored Jane Austin…awesome!
I do have the Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife book in my book queue at the library. It’s been a few months…hmmm…must be good.
Another one that comes to mind is…and please don’t flame me…The New Testament. Jesus and his Disciplines…being nailed on the cross…is that bondage to the extreme or what?
Yeah, I know you’re talking about Sherlock Holmes. It just took me a second to figure it out. And if you’re not talking about the bachelors of 221-B, don’t tell me.
