ABSTRACT
The modern edition of David of Kings, Peter Burton suggests that the character Arthur Gepp is based on Oscar Browning, known as OB, the homosexual and pederast master ejected from Eton who became a fellow of Kings College, Cambridge. The author suggests that the pike in David Blaize and the Blue Door is a less recognizable portrait of Oscar Browning, the predatory homosexual with a taste for young boys, and that A. G. brings O. B. into clearer focus. As in David Blaize and the Blue Door, neither seduction is successful nor does David reject both homosexuality and heterosexuality. The physical may not be as innocent as it first seems is introduced with reference to sport, and then explored in terms of touching someone of the same sex in Davids and Franks sexual development. Davids ability to substitute imagination led masturbation for actual sex with others whom he desires, allows him, at present, to feel he is maintaining his gift of continency.
