{"id":5236,"date":"2009-11-09T12:46:47","date_gmt":"2009-11-09T16:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fryeblog.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca\/?p=5236"},"modified":"2009-11-09T12:46:47","modified_gmt":"2009-11-09T16:46:47","slug":"thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5257\" src=\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg\" alt=\"200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160\" width=\"200\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg 200w, https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160-179x300.jpg 179w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Thoreau\u2019s sexual longings, from all evidence, appear to have been homosexual, though, sadly, perhaps for various reasons, they may have never been requited.<\/p>\n<p>Thoreau&#8217;s case is perhaps yet another indication of the prevalence of same-sex desire among writers (this is certainly true in American literature). Such a fundamental and immediate sense of one\u2019s difference from one of the most anxiously protected concerns of one\u2019s society may encourage the more general development of an imagination and a counter-cultural vision that challenges the gross inadequacies, oppressiveness, and lies of that society.<\/p>\n<p>I am thankful for that one passage, at least, in Frye\u2019s discussion of sexual love in chapter 6 of<em> Words with Power<\/em>, where he closes the first section with the following paragraph:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I have been dealing with the common tradition in which the poet is a male who begins with the expression of his love for a female, and expands from there into a vision of a symbolically female nature. The sexual bias, however frequent, is certainly reversible, even if the history of literary imagery is not. I have said that there is no ladder of love in the Bible, but there is one inf <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Symposium_(Plato)\" target=\"_blank\">Plato\u2019s Symposium<\/a>, and there the object of love, on the primary level, is not female. A crucial, though not surprisingly often neglected phase of the argument is the question about how far Socrates will go in bed with<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alcibiades\" target=\"_blank\"> Alcibiades<\/a>. The sublimating process starts from the beginning, but it goes in the same general direction, up to a vision of and ultimate union with the form of beauty. (201-02)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thoreau\u2019s sexual longings, from all evidence, appear to have been homosexual, though, sadly, perhaps for various reasons, they may have never been requited. Thoreau&#8217;s case is perhaps yet another indication of the prevalence of same-sex desire among writers (this is certainly true in American literature). Such a fundamental and immediate sense of one\u2019s difference from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sexuality"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire - The Educated Imagination<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire - The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thoreau\u2019s sexual longings, from all evidence, appear to have been homosexual, though, sadly, perhaps for various reasons, they may have never been requited. Thoreau&#8217;s case is perhaps yet another indication of the prevalence of same-sex desire among writers (this is certainly true in American literature). Such a fundamental and immediate sense of one\u2019s difference from [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-09T16:46:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joseph Adamson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joseph Adamson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joseph Adamson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/fde7d8c5162e1bd96a56bdcb01c94e6e\"},\"headline\":\"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-09T16:46:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/\"},\"wordCount\":272,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sexuality\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/\",\"name\":\"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire - The Educated Imagination\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-09T16:46:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/fde7d8c5162e1bd96a56bdcb01c94e6e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":334},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\",\"name\":\"The Educated Imagination\",\"description\":\"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/fde7d8c5162e1bd96a56bdcb01c94e6e\",\"name\":\"Joseph Adamson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b94e5cf65ba98825a6ede5250bd8c367a0dc853fa3cf3e59d0e8bea7c7bba458?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b94e5cf65ba98825a6ede5250bd8c367a0dc853fa3cf3e59d0e8bea7c7bba458?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b94e5cf65ba98825a6ede5250bd8c367a0dc853fa3cf3e59d0e8bea7c7bba458?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joseph Adamson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/adamsonj\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire - The Educated Imagination","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire - The Educated Imagination","og_description":"Thoreau\u2019s sexual longings, from all evidence, appear to have been homosexual, though, sadly, perhaps for various reasons, they may have never been requited. Thoreau&#8217;s case is perhaps yet another indication of the prevalence of same-sex desire among writers (this is certainly true in American literature). Such a fundamental and immediate sense of one\u2019s difference from [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/","og_site_name":"The Educated Imagination","article_published_time":"2009-11-09T16:46:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":334,"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joseph Adamson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joseph Adamson","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/"},"author":{"name":"Joseph Adamson","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/fde7d8c5162e1bd96a56bdcb01c94e6e"},"headline":"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire","datePublished":"2009-11-09T16:46:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/"},"wordCount":272,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg","articleSection":["Sexuality"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/","name":"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire - The Educated Imagination","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg","datePublished":"2009-11-09T16:46:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/fde7d8c5162e1bd96a56bdcb01c94e6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/11\/200px-Bust_Alcibiades_Musei_Capitolini_MC1160.jpg","width":200,"height":334},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/11\/09\/thoreau-frye-and-same-sex-desire\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thoreau, Frye, and Same-Sex Desire"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/","name":"The Educated Imagination","description":"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/fde7d8c5162e1bd96a56bdcb01c94e6e","name":"Joseph Adamson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b94e5cf65ba98825a6ede5250bd8c367a0dc853fa3cf3e59d0e8bea7c7bba458?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b94e5cf65ba98825a6ede5250bd8c367a0dc853fa3cf3e59d0e8bea7c7bba458?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b94e5cf65ba98825a6ede5250bd8c367a0dc853fa3cf3e59d0e8bea7c7bba458?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joseph Adamson"},"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/adamsonj\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}