About the Author

John W. M. Hallock lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been a lecturer at Temple University, where he earned his Ph.D. in English, and is the author of several articles on nineteenth-century literature.

Reviews

"A work that will become required reading for all Americanists. The American Byron is a very exciting piece of social history that explores a hitherto virtually unknown aspect of sexuality in nineteenth-century America. It should be of great interest to historians, sociologists, anthropologists, social psychologists, and literary critics interested in homosexuality and heterosexuality, and in gender and sexuality in general. A work that will become required reading for all Americanists."--Robert K. Martin, author of The Homosexual Tradition in American Poetry

"Hallock presents fascinating new empirical data about the poet Halleck's life and writing that have not, until now, been studied for what they reveal about sexual and affectional relationships between men in the nineteenth century."--Jonathan Ned Katz, author of The Invention of Heterosexuality

More a social than a poetic genius, Halleck, a favorite of such establishment figures as Charles Dickens, William C. Bryant, and Washington Irving, published satirical verses (often co-written with the married man he loved, Joseph Rodman Drake), though he is best known for editing a first complete edition of Byron's works. Though author Hallock (a Temple University Ph.D. and distant relative of the poet) argues somewhat tendentiously for Halleck's place in the American literary pantheon, he thoroughly delineates the difficulties faced by the gay male in a less understanding age. Certainly, Halleck was not the martyr the title implies--he never really occupied a literary pedestal high enough to fall from--and, in fact, he comes across less as a contemporary of Byron than a forerunner of Whitman. Though Halleck predated Whitman by publishing a free-verse poem, "The Field of Grounded Arms" (criticized by Poe for its "disagreeable versification"), Whitman not only possessed the formidable talent that Halleck lacked but also successfully finessed the troublesome question of sexuality. Recommended only for academic libraries.--David Kirby, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

"A work that will become required reading for all Americanists. The American Byron is a very exciting piece of social history that explores a hitherto virtually unknown aspect of sexuality in nineteenth-century America. It should be of great interest to historians, sociologists, anthropologists, social psychologists, and literary critics interested in homosexuality and heterosexuality, and in gender and sexuality in general. A work that will become required reading for all Americanists."--Robert K. Martin, author of The Homosexual Tradition in American Poetry
"Hallock presents fascinating new empirical data about the poet Halleck's life and writing that have not, until now, been studied for what they reveal about sexual and affectional relationships between men in the nineteenth century."--Jonathan Ned Katz, author of The Invention of Heterosexuality