Distant Desire focuses on the hom erotic desire coded in all of Forster's novels and illustrates how Forster's aesthetics have been formed by the hom erotic tradition of English Literature. The theme of male friendship occurs in every novel and is connected with the theme of journey. The ideal of male love is conceived as a distant desire. The underlying theme of male friendship in Forster's narratives constantly subverts the conventional, heterosexual plot of the novels. This work combines an interpretation of hom erotic themes with the cultural theories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as Classicism and Orientalism.
[Dr. Bakshi] has a very sound understanding of Forster and provides new insights into a body of work that has already been quite extensively discussed. Norman Page, University of Nottingham, England
Distant Desire presents a clear and forceful case for the centrality of homosexual issues in Forster's novels The case is tenaciously argued and persuasive, and the originality of the work lies in tracing the persistent shaping presence of hom erotic desire throughout the novels, rather than simply in certain obvious scenes and relationships. J.M. Rignall, University of Warwick, England
