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Queer Spirituality and Utopia in Bayard Taylor's Joseph and His Friend

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Queer Spirituality and Utopia in Bayard Taylor's Joseph and His Friend "STILL HAPPIER LANDSCAPES BEYOND:" QUEER SPIRITUALITY AND UTOPIA IN BAYARD TAYLOR'S JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND Adam J. Wagner A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2019 Committee: William Albertini, Advisor Jolie Sheffer © 2019 Adam J. Wagner All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT William Albertini, Advisor Bayard Taylor’s 1870 novel Joseph and His Friend, which some scholars refer to as America’s first gay novel, is a fascinating portrait of nineteenth-century American queerness. Using historical research and theoretical analysis, this project uncovers the various models of sexuality and romance that Taylor depicts in the text. The novel portrays its two main characters, Joseph and Philip, imagining future utopian spaces that resist heteronormative restrictions and allow for authentic expressions of queer affection. My work joins in conversation with scholars like Christopher Looby, Peter Coviello, and Axel Nissen and their research on nineteenth- century America, complicating our historical notions about queer relationships. Joseph and His Friend presages popular early-twentieth-century notions of sexuality and identity that were still coalescing in the mid-nineteenth-century, offering an insightful glance at forgotten understandings of American queerness. By queering evangelical Quaker doctrine, the novel uses Christian language and imagery to present its own version of theology that posits male-male intimacy as a path to spiritual communion with God. Joseph and His Friend also trades in visions of utopian spaces, positioning the American West as a site of homosocial connection and queer desire. By gazing at this forgotten queer novel, we can better understand the complexities of American sexuality as it developed in the mid- to late-nineteenth century, attending to the particularities of this historical moment and imagining the future queer utopias left for us to cultivate. Keywords: nineteenth-century American literature; queer history; religious studies; Quaker theology; queer theory; utopia; Bayard Taylor; Gilded Age; the West iv For my mom, who taught me how to love; my sister, who inspires me to look forward; and my dad, whom I hope to share all this with someday, in utopia. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe so much to the wonderful people in my life for the successes of this thesis. First and foremost, I am pleased to thank Bill Albertini, who for over a year has generously poured his time and enthusiasm into this project. With insightful questions, thorough feedback, and patient encouragement, he has always pushed this work to be the best version it could be. Thank you for cultivating a space where I could thrive; I am indebted to your abounding kindness and so very thankful for your guidance in my scholarship. I am also very thankful for Jolie Sheffer and her continued support and eagerness as I researched and drafted this thesis. Thank you for motivating me to make my work specific, guiding me to helpful sources, and sharing in the many fun discoveries along the way. None of this would be possible without my dear and indelible friend Theodora Hannan, who since the first week of graduate school has been an unfaltering source of encouragement, support, and kindness. As Oscar said of Walt, “there is no one in this wide great world of America whom I love and honour so much.” A very special thanks to Blue Profitt for her uplifting friendship and for sharing with me the coolest office in the galaxy. A very special thanks as well to Micaela Tore for her warm companionship and comforting hugs. Thank you to my cohort—Madelaine Pope, Jessica Eylem, Heather Stephenson, Blake Altman, and Hammed Adejare—for walking with me through the thick and thin of grad school. I would like to thank Lee Nickoson and the BGSU English Department faculty and staff for creating such a safe and affirming space to learn and work. Thank you to J. Clevenger and my peers at The Learning Commons for sharing in laughter and inspiring me to help others at their point of need. I want to thank the undergraduate students I have known at BG for making all the work worthwhile. Thank you as well to my professors and peers at the Cedarville University vi Department of English, Literature, and Modern Languages for teaching me how to think critically, read well, and serve others. I want to thank my loving friends Rebecca and Sarah Bundy for their loyalty and generosity through the years and for cheering me up through stress. Thank you to Hannah Benefiel for figuring out life and academia with me and reminding me that there will always be better days. Thank you also to Alex Hixson, my dearest friend in the faith who traveled West with me and helped me discover our true freedom back home. I would like to thank the community at Sautter’s Food Center for their support, and thanks to Jared Bieber for giving respite to my brain with endless hilarity and entertainment in all things nerdy. I want to give all my gratitude to my family, who have seen me through the joys and complexities of early adulthood. Thank you to Kaitlyn and Jordan, to Mike for his listening ear and impactful advice, to Uncle Daryl for his enthusiastic care, and to Grandma Farley for lending me strength through uncertainty and teaching me how to tend the garden. This project is written in loving memory of Grandpa Farley and Uncle Matt, role models in faith and art who helped shape my contentment and creativity. Finally, all my love and thanks to my mom, Trish, my sister, Allyson, and my dad, Randy, to whom I dedicate this work. I wouldn’t be here without your boundless love, acceptance, and support. I love you and thank you for everything. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 The Novel and My Argument .................................................................................... 11 Scholarly Context....................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER ONE: “THE WAY TO GOD LIES THROUGH THE LOVE OF MAN:” INHERENT NATURES AND QUEERED THEOLOGY .................................................... 22 Introduction: Romantic Friendships and Religion ..................................................... 22 A Peculiar, Twofold Nature ....................................................................................... 32 “That Curious Whirling, Falling Sensation” .............................................................. 44 God in Jeans ............................................................................................................... 55 Conclusion: “God’s Wonderful System is Imperfect” .............................................. 67 CHAPTER TWO: “HOW FAIR THE VALLEY SHONE:” QUEER UTOPIAN PATHWAYS IN THE GILDED AGE .................................................................................. 71 Introduction: The Incorporation of America.............................................................. 71 Travels and Transcendentalism.................................................................................. 77 City Games................................................................................................................. 86 “The Freedom We Craved” ....................................................................................... 95 Queer Escape ................................................................................................. 97 Queer Domesticity ......................................................................................... 107 Queer Transfiguration .................................................................................... 109 Conclusion: “Happiness Was Not Yet Impossible” ................................................... 115 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 118 viii Backward Glances, Future Visions ............................................................................ 118 Utopia, Wasteland, and the Work Left to Do ............................................................ 121 WORKS CITED .................................................................................................................... 124 Wagner 1 INTRODUCTION Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There’s a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true On a sepia-toned screen depicting the dusty farmland of Kansas, the classic character Dorothy wonders aloud: “Some place where there isn’t any trouble […] Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It’s not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It’s far, far away—behind the moon—beyond the rain—” (The Wizard of Oz). Queer folk have often dreamed of such a place: a world where they are free to express themselves, a land that is friendly to their varied identities and desires, a place where they are free to cause trouble. Not the kind of trouble that Dorothy fears, of course, but the trouble that resists constricting laws, creates new social relationships, and charts new mappings of life. Somewhere, this dreamy, colorful world may exist: a paradise, an Eden, a utopia. In the opening to his book Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity, José Esteban Muñoz eloquently posits a unique perspective on
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