Imre: A Memorandum
1906
Edward Prime-Stevenson
Naples : The English Book Press
American
Novel
205pp
Gay Men, Queer Theory, Queer Experience, Uranian
The Friendship which is Love—the Love which is Friendship.
Summary
A queer experience novel of love and vulnerability as a character study of isolated Hungarian solider Imre von N. by his lover, Oswald, a displaced English noble.
More Info
Published under the pseudonym Xavier Mayne. Epigraph likely adapted from Marc-Andre Raffalovich's poem "The World Well Lost"—a phrase also used in Imre: A Memorandum.
Two of Prime-Stevenson's short stories give reference to Imre and Oswald respectively:
"'Madonnesca'" in Her Enemy, Some Friends, and Other Personages (1913)
"Prince Bedr's Quest" in Long-Haired Iopas (1927). Contact me for text.
Also see:
Dayneford's Library - American Homosexual Writing 1900-1913 (1995) by James Gifford.
"Sexology, Homosexual history, and Walt Whitman - the 'Uranian' identity in Imre" (2010) James Patrick Wilper.
Reconsidering the Emergence of the Gay Novel in English and German (2016) by James Patrick Wilper.
"Ghosts in the Archives: the Queer Knowledge and Public Musicology of Vernon Lee, Rosa Newmarch, and Edward Prime-Stevenson" (2018) by Kristin Franseen
"Slum or Arcadia? Hungary as 'other space' in Imre by Edward Prime-Stevenson" (2019) by Zsolt Bojti
"Narrating eros and agape: Erotext in the exposition Edward Prime-Stevenson’s Imre: A Memorandum" (2020) by Zsolt Bojti
"ANONYMOUS and Badboy Books: A 1990s moment in the history of pornography" (2020) by Barry Reay and Nina Attwood
"Queer Music in the Queen’s Hall: Teleny and Decadent Musical Geographies at the Fin de Siecle" (2020) by Fraser Rissel
"Homosexual Identity Translation and Prime-Stevensons Imre and the Intersexes" (2021) by Margaret S. Breen
Content & Trigger Warnings
(highlight to reveal)
SUICIDE: Mentioned only, but once in association with a main character's past (p188).
Editions
Naples : The English Book Press (1906) first edition cover is from Elysium Press.
Masquerade Books (1992) as Imre. paperback edition is a rewritten version of the text. Excises passages on queer theory and criticism of queer culture, and adds explicit sex scenes. See a complete comparison of the texts here. ISBN: 978-1563330193?
Broadview Press (2003) edited by James J. Gifford includes short annotations, a biographical sketch of Prime-Stevenson, and an Appendix of related texts. ISBN: 978-1551113586
Napvilág Kiadó (2021) as Imre: Egy emlékirat. Translated to Hungarian by Zsolt Bojti. ISBN: 978-9633384725