The Laws of Transmission: Homosexuality, Inheritance, and the Memory of Criminalisation in E. M. Forster’s The Life to Come and Other Stories

Abstract

This article deals with the way the themes of transmission and homosexuality intersect in E. M. Forster’s The Life to Come and Other Stories, a collection of short stories published posthumously in 1972. First, it deals with the way in which the stories, which were written prior to the Sexual Offences Act 1967, play with transmission as a form of contagion which triggers moral panics throughout the stories. The article then moves on to study the question of inheritance and pays particular attention to the device of the will which does not only ensure the transmission of material goods but also serves as a tool to assert one’s subjectivity and identity. This shift is particularly important in the context of gay-themed texts since the late 19th century and early 20th century saw the constitution of a distinct homosexual identity. Finally, we will study the way the collection works toward the transmission of the memory of criminalisation in England and Wales.