Alcibiades at the Door
Gay Discourses in French Literature

Focusing on works by Rene Crevel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Roland Barthes, and Herve Guibert, this book studies how homosexuality functions at the limits of narrative, as part of the deep structure of narrative, and at the border between public and private discourse.

Focusing on works by Rene Crevel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Roland Barthes, and Herve Guibert, this book studies how homosexuality functions at the limits of narrative, as part of the deep structure of narrative, and at the border between public and private discourse. It examines each writer in turn, reflecting on how their texts represent homosexuality, both implicitly and explicitly, and how the public sphere of their writing relates to the private sphere of their personal lives. The final chapter examines the AIDS-related works of Herve Guibert, which are both a meditation on and an exploration of AIDS, that most public of private phenomena.

Abbreviations
Introduction
Heterosexual surrealism and the problem of Rene Crevel
Sartre as midwife
On vacation with Gide and Barthes
Cippus: Guibert
Index.