Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania (1870) is a novel by Bayard Taylor. Written toward the end of Taylor’s career as a prominent travel writer and poet, Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania has been recognized by scholars as the first gay novel in American literary history. “When they were seated side by side, and Joseph leaned his head back on the supporting arm, while the train moved away with them, he felt that a new power, a new support, had come to his life. The face upon which he looked was no longer strange; the hand which had rested on his heart was warm with kindred blood. Involuntarily he extended his own; it was taken and held, and the dark gray, courageous eyes turned to him with a silent assurance which he felt needed no words.” During a train derailment, Joseph Aster sustains minor injuries and his helped by a kind stranger named Philip Held. Regaining his senses, Joseph feels an unspeakably strong spiritual and physical connection with his savior. As they become inseparable friends, Joseph’s home life begins to suffer as his wife Julia asserts control over their finances, often to the benefit of her wealthy family. When tragedy strikes, Joseph has no one to turn to but Philip, a man he has grown to love more than anything in the world. This edition of Bayard Taylor’s Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania is a classic work of queer literature reimagined for modern readers.
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