GLR November-December 2023

1895); “Last night he was exquisite, caressing, as affectionate as I’ve rarely seen him. And I began to hope again, to rejoice, to saturate myself with his ineffable and delicious presence” (March 30, 1895). Sander was engaged in January 1895 and married in August 1896, but the two men still saw each other and continued their romance. Eekhoud writes to him on January 28, 1897: “ I was thirsty of thy lips and of thy heart ,” and on April 10, 1897: “ my heart was thirsty of thy sweet presence and my lips did long for thy at the same time mighty and caressing kisses .” In a letter three days later, he sends Sander his “ most raving and hot kisses .” The letters from the latter part of 1899 show that their sexual relationship had ended by then. However, they remained the closest of friends until Eekhoud’s death. In parallel to his newfound love, Eekhoud published more militant queer texts in collections of short stories such as Le Cycle patibulaire (“The Sinister Cycle”) (1892, 1896) and Mes Communions (“My Communions”) (1895, 1897). His anar chistic ideology is a central thread: if “normal” society refuses to accept his desire to love men, then one should seek such love on the margins of that society. Although many of his heroes meet their death in his prose, these outcomes, in our view, do not necessarily constitute a condemnation of queer love. Rather, Eekhoud uses the characters’ martyrdom to denounce society’s intolerance. For example, “The Lancer’s Quadrille” starts with the cer emonial dismissal of a “very young and handsome cavalryman” from the army for “indecent assault.” The lancer sees his dis missal as a sign of society’s intolerance of queer love and de cides to avenge this injustice. He goes to a popular dance hall, where he’s recognized and forced to submit to a test: the fe male dancers each have one dance during which to seduce him, but they all fail, and then threaten to gang-rape him. The lancer next reminds the male dancers of their own adolescent same sex experiences, which causes them to be disgusted by their girlfriends who, in a fit of jealous rage, put the lancer to death. The implied message here is that everyone can be queer, and people should follow their desires instead of submitting to moral strictures. One also wonders if Eekhoud was recalling his own dismissal from the Royal Military School in 1873, since he published this novella after his friend Camille Co quilhat’s death in 1891. “Appol and Brouscard” tells the story of two young men who meet in prison, fall in love, and join a criminal gang in the Brussels underworld, where their relationship is accepted. Brouscard’s description seems inspired by Eekhoud’s afore mentioned school friend Boratto. Appol, a former prostitute in the Port of Antwerp who has “a rosy complexion, a delicate face, silky and fine blond hair, sapphire-like blue eyes,” and is “beardless with a nascent moustache.” His description is sug gestive of Sander Pierron. “A Bad Encounter” and “The Sublime Escarpment” are two stories that narrate love between men from different social classes. In the first, the wealthy thirty-year-old prince Léonce de Mauxgavres falls in love with Daniel Thévenot, a handsome adolescent, at a popular dance hall. The novella contains a sur prising scene: two men dance intimately. Everyone is “stupe fied,” but it’s unclear whether they’re shocked because two men dance together or because Léonce managed to find a partner so November–December 2023

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