E.M. Forster | autograph letter signed, to Sandy Parnis, 1959, on a novel of homosexual love, with his copy of the book

E.M. Forster

Autograph letter signed, to A.E.L. ("Sandy") Parnis

thanking him for sending his copy of A Way of Love, criticising the novel ("...Too little warmth and too little talent...") and discussing the theme of homosexual love in novels ("...I seldom do find books on 'this subject' satisfactory, though I always like reading them. 'Look down in Mercy' and 'Quaint Honour' were welcome exceptions..."), 1 page, 8vo, headed stationery of King's College, Cambridge, 29 March 1959

[with:] James Courage. A Way of Love. London: Jonathan Cape, 1959, 8vo, second impression, publisher's cloth, ownership inscription ("AEL Parnis | Feb. 1959")

Alexander Edward Libor Parnis (d.1994) was a civil servant who acted as Treasurer to Cambridge University and was a Fellow of Kings from 1953-62. He was a friend of Angus Wilson. The two works mentioned approvingly by Forster for their treatment of gay love are the 1951 novel Look Down in Mercy by Walter Baxter, and Quaint Honour, a play by Roger Gellert premiered in 1958. Male homosexual sex was illegal in Britain until 1967.