The pious dance

The coming-out novel by Klaus Mann. Andreas dreamed in front of Niels' photograph. It seemed to him that he found everything that had been dream, premonition, longing, and thought within himself again in the calm of this face. He completely surrendered to this love, which he did not perceive as a deviation. It never occurred to him to deny it before himself or to fight against it as "degeneration" or as "illness." These words touched the truth so little; they came from another world. Instead, he embraced this love entirely and wholeheartedly, praising it as he would everything that God gave and imposed—whether it was easy or difficult to bear.