Bertram Cope's Year

Description

"Bertram Cope's Year" by Henry Blake Fuller is a novel published in 1919, sometimes called the first American homosexual novel. Set at a Midwestern university, it follows an attractive young English instructor navigating the attentions of wealthy patrons—both male and female—while completing his thesis. Fuller's understated, ironic approach depicts what one critic called "normative homosexuality" with delicate restraint, allowing his characters to move through their world with surprising ease. The novel's subtle treatment of taboo themes initially baffled reviewers and readers, leaving its deeper meanings hidden to those without the key.