Benjamin Britten

Michael Wilcox's Outline takes a sidelong and challenging glance at Britten's operas from the theatrical point of a gay dramatist. Britten's output includes notable settings of poetry by Auden, Rimbaud, Michelangelo and Wilfred Owen--all homosexuals. But it is his magnificent operas which lie at the heart of his work; beneath the recurring theme of innocence corrupted, Wilcox explores their fascinating personal and private gay subtexts, ranging from camp innuendo to profound and secret emotions. He also recounts the story of Britten's relationships with his lover Peter Pears, and with his librettists, including W. H. Auden, E. M. Forster, Eric Crozier and Myfanwy Piper.