4 - E.F. Benson: The David Blaize trilogy, A Sexuality Fit for My Lord – The Release of Masturbation

Summary

The end of David Blaize left us with David apparently asking Frank for a physical expression of the sexuality underlying their friendship. The special circumstances that sanctioned the request fitted the context of writing the book: the sentimentality of comrade love in the trenches of the Great War. The act itself was so slight that though E.F.B. called it ‘the tie of their love’, it might hardly be termed sexual. At the same time, it was significant that continued touch from his lover kept David alive, which furthermore, was acknowledged by the Head and the doctor as a physical sign of the love between the two boys, and possibly one sign among many. Frank holding David's hand all night and for the following morning must also be set in context of his having nearly acted on his physical desire for David in the bathroom at school, and his later admission that he still found it difficult not to ask David for sexual favours when they were on a golfing holiday. Now that David has apparently recognized his reciprocal desire for physical closeness with Frank, (a desire that has been hinted at throughout the first volume of the trilogy) no matter what the circumstances the request was made, Pandora's box has been opened, which can never be closed: David's sexual maturity with its concomitant sexual activity with others.