implores Sebastian to don a surpliceSebastian and his beloved friend Saint Pancras tease Luigi, tossing the surplice between them and gazing at Luigi with as “merry laughing eyes.” These are, Frederick Roden has described them, tales of frolicking in “naked boy-saints paradise.” They invite readers to consider male bodies and masculine beauty in unmistakable terms during a period when such statements might be regarded with great suspicion and, even more strikingly, in the pages of a periodical in the process of retreating from the front lines of the war on sexual and gender ideologies. It has become a critical commonplace to note the shift in tone and editorial practices at the in 1895As Linda Hughes the periodical has often been in terms of Yellow Book “approached a historical divide: B.T. and A.T., before and after the trials of what Sally Ledger Oscar Wilde.”n has described as a Aubrey Beardsley, who had “moral rearguard action,” illustrated Wilde’s According to E.F. Benson, the Salom. Yellow Book Beardsley’s dismissal, “turned grey said that the April 1895 issue that followed overnight.” A contemporary reviewer Beardsley’s dismissal was that it might, without seeming impropriety, be taken up the river in a “so proper boat and read, yellow and unashamed, beneath some overhanging willow, or on some riverside and Mark Samuels Lasner have recently worked to complicate the notion lawn.” Margaret Stetz that the periodical became entirely dismissalNew opportunities for “colorless” after Beardsley’s women artists and illustrators opened up at the once Beardsley was no longer the art Yellow Book editor, and New Woman writers continued to publish in the magazine following the Wilde controversyIn addition, Stetz and Lasner assert that the periodical did not to “[succumb] wholly censorship and caution after though accounts of a complete and Wilde’s arrest.”Nevertheless, utter overnight transformation of the might have been exaggerated, the public Yellow Book humiliation of Wilde did have an impact on the periodical. As Linda Hughes has argued, the
implores Sebastian to don a surpliceSebastian and his beloved friend Saint Pancras tease Luigi, tossing the surplice between them and gazing at Luigi with “merry laughing eyes.” These are, as Frederick Roden has described them, tales of “naked boy-saints frolicking in paradise.” They invite readers to consider male bodies and masculine beauty in unmistakable terms during a period when such statements might be regarded with great suspicion and, even more strikingly, in the pages of a periodical in the process of retreating from the front lines of the war on sexual and gender ideologies. It has become a critical commonplace to note the shift in tone and editorial practices at the Yellow Book in 1895As Linda Hughes the periodical has often been “approached in terms of a historical divide: B.T. and A.T., before and after the trials of Oscar Wilde.”n what Sally Ledger has described as a “moral rearguard action,” Aubrey Beardsley, who had illustrated Wilde’s Salom. According to E.F. Benson, Beardsley’s dismissal, the Yellow Book “turned grey overnight.” A contemporary reviewer said that the April 1895 issue that followed Beardsley’s dismissal was “so proper that it might, without seeming impropriety, be taken up the river in a boat and read, yellow and unashamed, beneath some overhanging willow, or on some riverside lawn.” Margaret Stetz and Mark Samuels Lasner have recently worked to complicate the notion that the periodical became entirely “colorless” after Beardsley’s dismissalNew opportunities for women artists and illustrators opened up at the Yellow Book once Beardsley was no longer the art editor, and New Woman writers continued to publish in the magazine following the Wilde controversyIn addition, Stetz and Lasner assert that the periodical did not “[succumb] wholly to censorship and caution after Wilde’s arrest.”Nevertheless, though accounts of a complete and utter overnight transformation of the Yellow Book might have been exaggerated, the public humiliation of Wilde did have an impact on the periodical. As Linda Hughes has argued, the