The seduction of the Mediterranean : writing, art and homosexual fantasy /
The Mediterranean was the central theme in homoerotic writing and art from the 1750s to the 1950s. Writers and artists delved into classical mythology and history for figures - such as Ganymede and Achilles - through which they could portray a sexuality considered by society as a sin, an illness and...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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London ; New York :
Routledge,
1993.
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| Online Access: | Publisher description 1993. http://link.library.utoronto.ca/eir/EIRdetail.cfm?Resources__ID=770710&T=F http://link.library.utoronto.ca/eir/EIRdetail.cfm?Resources__ID=448064&T=F |
| Summary: | The Mediterranean was the central theme in homoerotic writing and art from the 1750s to the 1950s. Writers and artists delved into classical mythology and history for figures - such as Ganymede and Achilles - through which they could portray a sexuality considered by society as a sin, an illness and a crime. Many journeyed to the south of Europe, particularly Italy, to admire the ruins of Antiquity and the paintings of the Renaissance, escape the social censure of their home countries and find sexual partners. The lives and works of forty writers are examined, from the art historian Winckelmann in the 1700s, through Romantic poets such as Byron and Platen, to Wilde, Isherwood and Forster. Attention is given to the works of such painters as Girodet and von Marees and the photographs of von Gloeden and List. Robert Aldrich sets the phenomenon of homosexual interest in the Mediterranean in its social and historical context. He suggests that different myths replaced that of the homoerotic Mediterranean by the 1960s, as gay liberation diminished the need for the legitimation of homosexuality which the classics provided, and law reform lessened the need for exile. This book brings together for the first time a study of seminal figures in homosexual culture and explains the link - fascination with the Mediterranean - which bound them together. |
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| Item Description: | The Cushing Library/Women & Gender Studies copy was acquired as part of The Don Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature and Culture. |
| Physical Description: | xii, 259 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-255) and index. |
| ISBN: | 0415093120 9780415093125 041503227X 9780415032278 9780415032773 0415032776 |