Lord Dismiss Us
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lord Dismiss Us | |
 |
|
| Author | Michael Campbell |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
| Publication date | 1967 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 378 p. (hardback edition) |
| ISBN | NA |
Lord Dismiss Us is a 1967 novel by Michael Campbell.
[edit] Plot summary
Lord Dismiss Us is set in an English boys' public school. The novel deals with the love affair between two boys. Carleton, a bright sixth former loves Allen, a boy two years his junior. Carleton is very open about his feelings when speaking to Allen:
"Oh, I do love you. I love you, my darling. Don't be shy, look at me. Do you love me?"
"Yes."
"Do you swear?"
"Yes."
The school is not only a hotbed of passion between other boys too. Ashley, one of the teachers, loves Carleton, and there is also a new headmaster who wants to root out moral corruption.
The novel presents the issue of cross-generational sexual attraction and sexual abuse, or more aptly the abuse of power. Its true theme, however, is the nature of same-sex love and sex within the confines of an opposing moral establishment. It explores the conflict between the individual and his sense of right and the sense of right as determined by those in power. Campbell's notion of homosexual love may be over-romanticized and poetic, robbing it of lust, but that love is the focus of the novel. Lord Dismiss Us is a novel about right, not wrong, and virtue, not sin.
