Abstract
This article aims to prove the inaccuracy of the queer reading of Henry James’s “The Beast in the Jungle” (1903). The paper shows how the queer theorist Eve Kosofsky misinterprets the character of John Marcher as concealing homosexuality. The paper is not just affirming that there are no signs of homosexuality in the selected work, but it also transforms the argument to show how James, as a psychotherapist, treats the anxiety and fear of his male protagonist who behaves strangely in a world full of sophistication. The article concludes that the queer reading of “The Beast in the Jungle” is imprecise and provides a new psychological reading which is based on Implosion Therapy. This new reading adds strength to the perspective which refuses to sexualize everything in James’s work.
Highlights
The article concludes that the queer reading of “The Beast in the Jungle” is imprecise and provides a new psychological reading which is based on Implosion Therapy
This paper focuses on analyzing the character of John Marcher in an attempt to dismantle the queer reading of James’s novella and to provide the researcher’s own reading of James’s protagonist
The researcher does a metacritical analysis of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s essay “The Beast in the Closet: James and the Writing of Homosexual Panic” in order to question the theoretical foundations upon which she based her queer interpretation of James’s novella to prove the falsehood of Sedgwick’s claim and her frequent twist of meanings
Summary
This paper focuses on analyzing the character of John Marcher in an attempt to dismantle the queer reading of James’s novella and to provide the researcher’s own reading of James’s protagonist. The researcher does a metacritical analysis of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s essay “The Beast in the Closet: James and the Writing of Homosexual Panic” (first published in 1986 in her book Epistemology of the Closet which was instrumental to the rise of queer literary theory) in order to question the theoretical foundations upon which she based her queer interpretation of James’s novella to prove the falsehood of Sedgwick’s claim and her frequent twist of meanings. Henry James’s depiction of John Marcher in “The Beast in the Jungle” has generated much controversy and his masculine protagonist is widely interpreted. Some other critics support the queer reading of James’s work; they are such as Wendy Graham in Henry James & Thwarted Love (1999), Hugh Stevens in Henry James and Sexuality (2008), Leland Person in Henry James and the Suspense of Masculinity (2013) and Eric Savoy in his collection of essays on Jamesian queerness
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