Overview
Focusing on the representation of same-sex desire in Victorian autobiographical writing, Oliver Buckton offers significant new readings of works by such influential 19th-century writers as Edward Carpenter, John Henry Newman, John Addington Symonds, and, in an epilogue, E.M. Forster, and reveals the "confessional" elements of their writings.Editorials
From the Publisher
"Buckton [has a] welcome ability to merge theoretical dexterity and attentive studies of texts in his own highly readable narrative."—Victorian Literature and Culture"Dense and closely argued . . . opens a new door in both Victorian and autobiographical studies."—South Central Review
"In an extremely readable and well-written study, Buckton provides original readings of the relationship between secrecy and autobiography in major Victorian works. Secret Selves is historically informed and compelling. It will break new ground in the area of Victorian autobiography."—Mary Poovey, New York University
"In this major new study, Oliver Buckton widens the range of canonical works within Victorian autobiography by making a convincing case for the importance of John Addington Symond's Memoirs and Edward Carpenter's My Days and Dreams in addition to more familiar titles such as Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua and Wilde's De Profundis. Buckton demonstrates the special importance of this genre in the social construction of modern homosexuality and the fact that desire between men is a much more varied phenomenon, more closely tied to particular rhetorical strategies than is usually taken to be the case. This book will change the course of both Victorian and gay studies."—Richard Dellamora, author of Masculine Desire: The Sexual Politics of Victorian Aestheticism