Secret Selves: Confession and Same-Sex Desire in Victorian AutobiographyFocusing on the representation of same-sex desire in Victorian autobiographical writing, Oliver Buckton offers significant new readings of works by some of the most influential figures in late-nineteenth-century literature and culture. Combining original research, careful historical analysis, and contemporary theories of autobiography, gender, and sexual identity, he provides nuanced studies of confessional narratives by Edward Carpenter, John Henry Newman, John Addington Symonds, Oscar Wilde, and, in an epilogue, E. M. Forster. By examining the "confessional" elements of these writings, Buckton brings "secrecy" into focus as a central and productive component of autobiographical discourse. He challenges the conventional view of secrecy as the suppression of information, instead using the term to suggest an oscillation between authorial self-disclosure and silence or reserve--a strategy for arousing the reader's interest and establishing a relation based on shared knowledge while deferring or displacing the revelation of potentially incriminating and scandalous desires. Though their disclosures of same-sex desire jeopardized the cultural privilege granted these writers by Victorian codes of authorship and masculinity, their use of secrecy, Buckton shows, allowed them to protect themselves from Victorian stigma and to challenge prevailing constructions of sexual identity. Originally published in 1998. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 21 | |
Desire and Displacement in John Addington Symondss Memoirs | 60 |
Chapter 3 Defacing Oscar Wilde | 107 |
The Hidden Agenda of Edward Carpenters My Days and Dreams | 161 |
Sexual Reconstruction in E M Forsters Secret Fictions | 206 |
Notes | 219 |
Works Cited | 251 |
Index | 261 |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic Algy Anglo-Catholicism Apologia appears argues attack autobiography biography Bosie Bosie's Catholicism celibacy Charles Kingsley confession confessional construction context critical cultural Days and Dreams Dellamora described disclosure discourse Dollimore Dorian Gray Douglas dramatic E. M. Forster Earnest Edelman Edward Carpenter effeminacy episode erotic example fact feminine fiction Forster friends gender Greek Gribsby Harrow heterosexual homosexual Hukin Ibid ideal influence Intermediate Sex John Addington Symonds John Henry Newman Kingsley Kingsley's Koestenbaum literary Lord Alfred Douglas male manliness masculine Maurice Memoirs Merrill Millthorpe moral narrative nature Newman novel O'Brien Oscar Wilde Oxford Oxford movement passion perversion play poem political prison letter Profundis published reader relationship religious reveal rhetorical role Rowbotham and Weeks same-sex desire scandal secrecy secret sexual desire Sexual Inversion significance sion social Socialist specific suggests Symonds Symonds's textual tion transgressive trials Vaughan Victorian Whitman Wilde's working-class writing wrote