J. Anthony Froude by Julia Markus

Author:Julia Markus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Homosexuality was not a word invented in Carlyle’s lifetime, but one has to wonder if that was part of the secret he believed no one could know. One suspects that the homoerotic impulse in Carlyle was on the level of deep same-sex friendships, stirring feelings that, whether expressed or not, had to be repressed. A revealing letter John Sterling wrote to Carlyle appeared in John Sterling —Carlyle’s only biography of a contemporary. Dying before his time of the dreaded tuberculosis, Sterling sent a poignant farewell, including the curious line “With regard to You and Me I cannot begin to write; having nothing for it but to keep shut the lid of those secrets with all the iron weights that are in my power.” What secrets are these that do not go gently into that dark night, secrets a dying man reassures his dear friend he will keep the lid on with all his remaining strength? Biographer Carlyle does not explain the reference—neither does he delete it. Had Carlyle, with his peculiar temperament, his idealization of his devout peasant parents, and his own streak of Calvinistic severity, been aroused by homoerotic yearning in dreams or in reality, had he acted on such impulses in any way, the guilt attached may have, in the long run, contributed to the severity of his impotence.

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