Did I hear Beauchamp whisper to the butler, ‘Je t’adore?’

[sige-vic.livejournal.com]

A bit of offtop, but very, very interesting, especially for fic writers. The extracts from the new book about sex scandal behind Waugh's Brideshead Revisited:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article6788504.ece
Вright young things, aristocratic morals, homosexual relations with male servants and many more.
Just a little quotation:
* Lord Beauchamp’s homosexuality had been an open secret for years at a certain exalted level of society. He had a weakness for sex with his male servants, which had not abated since he married Lady Lettice Grosvenor, sister of the Duke of Westminster.
Boom — as Beauchamp was known, ostensibly because of his foghorn voice — was said to have “exquisite taste in footmen”. His interviewing style was unique. He would pass his hands over their buttocks, making a similar hissing noise to the one made by stable lads when rubbing their horses down. If the young man was handsome and pleasant, the earl would remark: “He’ll do well. Very nice indeed!”
The fingers of the footmen of Madresfield were said to be glittering with diamonds. One could hear the clunk of the jewelery as they served dinner. Harold Nicolson, the diplomat and diarist, recalled an astonished fellow guest at Madresfield who asked: “Did I hear Beauchamp whisper to the butler, ‘Je t’adore?’ ”
“Nonsense,” Nicolson replied. “He said, ‘Shut the door’.” *

Comments

[axmxz.livejournal.com]

I think secrecy, desperation, and a sense of tragic impossibility of outside validation of the relationship is the whole reason why slash has so much currency in the first place. Romances between a heterosexual couple of different socio-economic standing/race/religion used to have that, but they don't really any more, at least not where the majority of slashers live. It's what makes a romance a real romance as opposed to a hook-up with financial/procreative consequences.

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

You've summed this up rather nicely.

[charie-caphine.livejournal.com]

A great part of slash fanfiction (especially those stories set in the present/future/alternate reality) doesn't deal with the secrecy and percesution aspects of homosexual relationships at all, in my experience, therefore I don't think it is the whole reason for the genre's popularity. You are so very right on the subject of 'real romance' to be found in the anguish-strewn historic settings, though.

[axmxz.livejournal.com]

The secrecy and forbiddenness doesn't have to be overt, but it's practically always there. I know I can't imagine any of my slash pairings being at all interesting in a world where anyone can have anyone they want, and all the society at large would have to say is 'mazel tov.' No obstacles, no need to hide your feelings, no need to feel like there's something wrong with you, and no intensification of feelings through repression means no massive existential relief/joy when your feelings are returned. It's just a nice little love story, boy meets girl 2.0

[charie-caphine.livejournal.com]

Anyone can't have anyone they want regardless of the gender, and obstacles vary. I think slash veers from the 'nice little love story' tangent thanks to its modernly outspoken unusualty and the male characters being traditionally more exciting that the female, and as for the all-accepting worlds, some thrill may be due to the unconscious comparison of the fictional realm to the actual one.