Dearest Idol
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 | |
| Author | Martin Boyd |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Publisher | Bobbs-Merrill, Indiana, USA |
Publication date | 1929 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 284 pp |
| Preceded by | The Madeleine Heritage |
| Followed by | Scandal of Spring |
Dearest Idol (1929) is a novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It was published under the author's pseudonym "Walter Beckett".[1]
The novel is set in Europe and follows the story of a 19-year-old boy named Tony Dawson (called "Boysie" by his by Aunt Matilda). Tony and Matilda have moved to London, and Tony has left school and gone to work in a well-known bank. While working there he meets Boris and the novel explores the friendship that develops between them.
Critical reception
In her PhD thesis titled "Deconstructing Martin Boyd : Homosocial Desire and the Transgressive Aesthetic",[2] Jenny Blain notes in her introduction that "the novel's predominant focus [is] on narcissism, egoism and homosexual possibility. Tony is a monster of vanity and self-love; he also has an infantile fixation on adulation and power."[3]