Talk:L. P. Hartley

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Review comments[edit]

Some suggestions for improvement as the article is expanded:

Perhaps some mention should be made of the political nature of some of Hartley's work. For example, "Facial Justice" (1960) being a satire of "social justice". However, such a judgement should be made by someone more knowledgable of the work of J.P. Hartley than I am. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.71.53.61 (talk) 11:54, August 29, 2007 (UTC)

Appropriate infobox should be added
Photograph should be added from a source with a free license, if available
Article should be divided into appropriate subheadings
Information on later life (after 1922) is lacking
Information on works should be expanded, eg genre, style, themes, critical reception
References should be expanded and preferably converted to inline format
External links to useful online resources should be added if available

Espresso Addict 16:26, 20 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sexual orientation[edit]

It is very unclear from the current article what Hartley's sexual orientation was, or if it is even known. The final paragraph of 'Personal life' implies he may have been or was gay, without saying it explicitly, and past editors have included him in various LGBT and Gay categories. The statement "Hartley was not open about his sexuality until toward the end of his life" is not definitive. It cites "Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History" - can someone with a copy of this please amend this section to make it clearer? Masato.harada (talk) 16:29, 20 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

you can read the relevant portion on Google Books. It says, rather vaguely: "Regarded by some as an interloper, up from 'trade', [Hartley] was able to rely on the loyalty of David Cecil--the platonic 'love of his life' according to Francis King--and the confidence of his old schoolfriend, C.H.B. Kitchin, a minor novelist whose active embrace of homosexual relationships contrasted with Hartley's suppressed longings. Until his death in 1972, Hartley lived alone but for a household of servants [...]." It also mentions how Hartley saw 'The Harness Room' as "his only 'homosexual novel'" (whatever that means). Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 15:47, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the part about him being open about his sexuality--if anyone finds a source to support that, please feel free to add it back. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 15:49, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Lead expansion[edit]

@Masato.harada: Hello, I noticed you reverted my last edit on the lead here! I've been working on this page for a few weeks and yesterday I started expanding the lead since not much of the page is represented there. Per the MoS Biography lead section I think it would be appropriate to add another paragraph to summarize the page with "due weight" given the length of the article. Thoughts?

On reflection, perhaps I was a bit harsh on your amendments to the lead. You're right, it could use some expansion with key points from the body. As it stood, your sentence about editing and book reviews unbalanced the lead, which is why I deleted it, but if you're going to expand the lead, then it is probably OK. Your 'works' is better than 'novels'. However, I still think 'published in/from' is unnecessary verbiage. I was having a grump about (other) editors who continually amend the same article, instead of preparing all their changes for a single, larger, amendment which can be considered once by other editors. Please keep up the good work! Masato.harada (talk) 09:56, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Any thoughts on whether it would be better for the page to say gay or homosexual? I'm leaning towards gay for the lead but then I think the page would need to be consistent, outside of the quotation about Hartley's "homosexual novel." Adri-at-BYU (talk) 16:10, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I assume you've seen the Sexual orientation discussion on this page. Until/unless someone produces a trusted source to confirm his sexuality, I would leave it out of the lead - the current article seems sufficient to me. However, perhaps others have a view on whether this is important to his notability as a writer, and should be in the lead?

As far as 'gay' or 'homosexual' is concerned, this must have been discussed as a general principle before, but I don't know the outcome. Perhaps try asking the Help desk or WP:WikiProject LGBT studies to point you in the right direction? PS: Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBT studies/Guidelines seems to give the answer. Masato.harada (talk) 09:16, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]