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Illustrated portrait of Ronald Staines

A character in The Swimming-Pool Library

Ronald Staines

A society photographer connecting erotic images, camp, celebrity, and queer archives.

What they want

To create, collect, and enjoy stylish and erotic images while remaining central to his social world.

The book

Cover of The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst
The Swimming-Pool LibraryAlan Hollinghurst, 1988

Queer freedom in 1980s London meets class, power, loneliness, and the lives that came before it.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Staines is a successful society photographer in Charles’s long gay social world.

He delights in gossip, visual style, erotic staging, and preserving images.

The final Firbank film is watched at his home.

How the book draws them

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • FlamboyantDress and speech make him socially vivid.
  • VisualPhotography turns looking into profession and power.
  • EroticizingHis images participate in the objectification of bodies.
  • ArchivalHis home preserves film linking queer generations.

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