The Charioteer - Hardcover

Renault, Mary, Pseud.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039448813X ISBN 13: 9780394488134

Publisher: Pantheon / Random House reissue, 1973

Synopsis

Life as both a soldier and a gay man during World War II-a classic of gay fiction. “Renault is one of the major novelists of our time. Her insights are phenomenal...her rendering of truth as she sees it forthright, courageous, informative, and stirring” (New York Herald Tribune).

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

After enduring an injury at Dunkirk during World War II, Laurie Odell is sent to a rural veterans' hospital in England to convalesce. There he befriends the young, bright Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. As they find solace and companionship together in the idyllic surroundings of the hospital, their friendship blooms into a discreet, chaste romance. Then one day, Ralph Lanyon, a mentor from Laurie's schoolboy days, suddenly reappears in Laurie's life, and draws him into a tight-knit social circle of world-weary gay men. Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.
Originally published in the United States in 1959, The Charioteer is a bold, unapologetic portrayal of male homosexuality during World War II that stands with Gore Vidal's The City and the Pillar and Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories as a monumental work in gay literature.

From the Back Cover:

“Phenomenal. . . . Renault is one of the major novelists of our time.” —New York Herald Tribune Book Review

“Miss Renault masters a lyrical style, meticulous and probing, and introduces us into a world of emotions so delicate and private that the reader often feels like an intruder.” —The New York Times

“Tribute must be paid Miss Renault for remarkable literary talents. Her prose, at its best, is dazzling, her perceptions sharp and original, her dialogue natural to the ear.” —Saturday Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Pantheon / Random House reissue
• Publication date: 1973
• ISBN 10: 039448813X
• ISBN 13: 9780394488134
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 347