While England Sleeps

A departure from David Leavitt's usual domestic and very American novels, WHILE ENGLAND SLEEPS is a heartfelt gay love story set in Europe. It chronicles the romance between English writer Brian Botsford and Communist activist Edward Phelan. Botsford regards his homosexuality as a mere phase; his ambivalence about the affair drives Phelan away, and he goes off to fight against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Then, feeling guilty, Botsford overcomes his denial about his own nature, and follows Phelan into war. This novel became the center of a literary contretemps when the poet Stephen Spender (then in his 80s) sued Leavitt, charging that the book was not only "pornographic," "idle, slovenly, [and] dishonest," it was also little more than a thinly disguised and salacious retelling of parts of Spender's own 1951 memoir WORLD WITHIN WORLD. The case was settled out of court, and Leavitt's publisher was forced to withdraw the book's English edition and substantially revise subsequent editions. Leavitt also included an afterword, stoutly defending himself against Spender's accusations.