A Spiritual Bloomsbury: Hinduism and Homosexuality in the Lives and Writings of Edward Carpenter, E. M. Forster and Christopher Isherwood
by Antony Copley
Lexington Books. 410 pages, $30.95
THIS BOOK is a great idea and, sadly, rather a great disappointment. The subject—broadly speaking, the relationship between the spiritual and sexual aspirations of three key gay male writers of the last century —has long warranted investigation. It is only lately, and in passing, that Forster’s engagement with Eastern society and religion has been considered in the context of his sexuality. For instance, Joe Bristow’s Effeminate England (1995) has a wonderful chapter on the subject, though Copley, despite copious research, seems not to have come across it.