Homoeroticism

Many of James' stories, including The Pupil, Brooksmith, the Aspern Papers and The Middle Years, involve intense emotional relationships between men, often between a younger man and an older man. Henry James was homosexual, a fact he hid during his life. There is great debate among critics on whether these characters were sexually involved with each other or not. James was certainly a good enough writer to have indirectly implied sex if he wanted to. However, he may have chosen not to due to the strict late-Victorian moral code, which denied that the "love that shall not be named" even existed.

A strong, intimate relationship occurred between the Brooksmith and his employer, Mr. Offord. In The Middle Years, author Duncombe develops a love for Dr. Hugh, which is returned. One of the most interesting pairs is the unnamed male narrator's passion for Jeffery Aspern, the dead poet. The...