AustLit

'Although Nuns in Jeopardy (1940) is one of several of Martin Boyd's books that lave received relatively little critical attention, and even more so in relation to its queerness, it is one of if not the most erotically charged, queer or otherwise, of all Boyd's novels. Although there is a lack of attention to the novel, several reviewers have appreciated its merit. The Advertiser (1940) described it as "a most unusual story, wittily and sometimes brilliantly told" (Rev. of Nuns 8), while it was also regarded as "a tragic-comedy of good and evil" (Brighouse 2). A lack of recognition by literary commentators of the queerness of Boyd's work is not unusual, and his Anglo nostalgia was alienating for nationalist critics. It might be argued that this absence has begun to change only relatively recently with the publication in 2008 of Robert Darby's "The Outlook and Morals of an Ancient Greek (Homoeroticism in the Fiction of Martin Boyd)." However, Darby's article is but a brief introduction to the eroticism of Boyd's work, including an even briefer mention of homoeroticism in Nuns in Jeopardy. In this article, I attempt to counter the absence of overtly queer readings of Boyd's work by providing a close queer reading of Nuns in Jeopardy. ' (Introduction)