The Western Shore is a 1925 novel written by Clarkson Crane. It depicts life at the University of California, Berkeley in a series of 20 "episodes" featuring a variety of characters. Lawrence Clark Powell described it as one of the first and best novels about university life at Berkeley.[1]
The novel was not commercially successful and received mixed reviews.[1] It is now mostly remembered for being an example of an early gay novel, for its inclusion of a gay professor as a major character as well as frank discussions of homosexuality among other characters.
Background
Crane himself had studied at UC Berkeley, graduating in 1916.[2] After graduation, he served in the army during World War I, and then pursued a career as a writer, publishing stories in a number of magazines. He traveled to Paris in 1924 where he lived on a small stipend from an aunt while composing The Western Shore, his first novel.[3]
Reception
The New York Times gave The Western Shore a tepid review, describing it as "realistic, brilliant and sound, without being great or important in any respect."[1] A review in the Saturday Review of Literature complained that Crane "fails to realize the tragedy or the pathos" of his characters.[1] Other critics, including Van Wyck Brooks, Paul Rosenfeld, and Carey McWilliams gave more positive assessments.[3]
As a gay novel
The Western Shore has been recognized as among the earliest novels to feature prominent gay themes. Most notably, the character of Philip Burton, a gay English professor. Other characters have been read as ambiguously gay, including the freshman student Milton Granger.[4][1] Unlike many other gay novels of the early 20th century, it was printed by a mainstream publisher, and without use of a pseudonym. Contemporary reviewers did not remark on the novel's gay content, nor is it mentioned in the introduction to the 1985 second edition.[1]
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