In 1977 Robert L. Gale published a précis on Charles Warren Stoddard. It is an admirable, brief account of his works and life except for its avoidance of the issue of his homosexuality. Among the critics who noted this omission was Roger Austen, who set about to remedy the lacuna, first in a 1983 article in the Journal of Homosexuality and then in a book, Genteel Pagan: The Double Life of Charles Warren Stoddard (1991), edited by John W. Crowley after Austen's death. Gay and lesbian studies were newly fashionable in literary criticism, and Austen's article was followed by other studies of Stoddard in the same vein. Unfortunately, however, in recognizing his historical place in the literary development of homosexuality, these writers have not merely overlooked but have even denigrated his genuine artistic achievements. Austen goes to the extreme of downplaying Stoddard's literary value for the sake of emphasizing...