The Line of Beauty

The Line of Beauty is structured in three parts, with each taking place in a different year: 1983, 1986 and 1987. Why do you think Alan Hollinghurst decided to document Nick’s journey across these three particular points in time?

Hollinghurst centres The Line of Beauty around gay experiences, highlighting the AIDS epidemic and the associated stigma. Do you believe his portrayal of the challenges faced by the gay community during the 1980s is an accurate representation? How does his depiction contribute to our understanding of the social and cultural attitudes of the time?

Nick comes from a middle-class background but becomes immersed in the world of the wealthy upper-class Fedden family. How does Hollinghurst use Nick’s perspective as an outsider serve to highlight and critique the differences in values and opportunities between the classes? And what commentary does the novel provide on the rigid class divisions in British society?

The UK’s 1980s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is, according to the New York Times, ‘a presence felt throughout the book but, like Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, invisible until near the end’ and referred to as ‘the Lady’. Then, in one notable scene, Nick, while under the influence of drugs, meets and dances with Thatcher. What does the presence of this real figure bring to the book, and does it bring an added layer of authenticity?

Considering the political climate of the 1980s, and how LGBTQIA+ people were treated and perceived at the time, discuss how different the story might have been if The Line of Beauty was set in present day. How would the challenges that Nick and his friends faced have differed?

Nick is pursuing a PhD in literature, focusing on the acclaimed British-American writer Henry James, author of The Turn of the Screw. Hollinghurst has admitted that James was an influence, telling the Guardian: ‘James was my own obsession at the time, and I worked him in in various ways, also taking up the Jamesian challenge of narrating a large-scale novel in the third person entirely from the point of view of one character.’ In your reading, did you find similarities with James’s work, or with other chroniclers of London life, such as Charles Dickens or Martin Amis?

Hollinghurst leaves several crucial narrative gaps in the text, such as the unexplained ending of Nick’s relationship with Leo. Why do you think he deliberately chose to omit key aspects of the plot? And how do these omissions affect your interpretation of the characters and the overall story?

At one point in the novel, Catherine says to Nick: ‘People are lovely because we love them, not the other way round’ (Page 304). How did you interpret this quote, and do you agree with Catherine’s sentiment?

There have been several interpretations of the symbolism behind the title ‘The Line of Beauty’, which is taken from a theory of aesthetics that originated with the 18th century satirist William Hogarth. Discuss your initial analysis of the title, and whether your understanding evolved after finishing the novel.

Upon winning the Booker Prize in 2004, much of the media response focused on the characters’ sexual orientation. ‘A novel full of explicit gay sex seduced the judges,’ wrote the Telegraph, while the Times of India said called The Line of Beauty ‘a novel bursting with gay sex and Thatcherite excesses’. Do you think the response was unfair, and how different do you think the media’s response may have been if the novel was published now?