Vernon Moyse

The Lissome Gay but Mostly Mr Fox Vernon Moyse

The story of an encounter between a young and introverted gay man, Paul, and his Nemesis, a frail old soldier locked in reminiscences about his days in the British Army of India, Mr Fox. The story is narrated by Paul now aged 72 and begins gloomily, but lightens into a humorous reaction to the follies of British Indian occupation. Paul and Mr Fox meet in an NHS hospital in London, the young man afflicted by Tropical Sprue and the old soldier dying of bowel cancer. The young man is a closet gay and troubled by things of the flesh, by appearances, by missed opportunities and by adolescent certainties and yet doubts. Mr Fox is an extrovert who shares his outrageous preferences and undoubted racism with all and sundry. As a farrier sergeant he was undoubtedly expert for he was attached to General Dunsterville's troops of 'moral camouflage", the precursor of the SAS. Paul gradually becomes very much aware of his own empirical racism and British Empire mentality - which he finally embraces in the style of Mr Fox.