Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Shift in the Portrayal and Reception of Homosexuality from the Victorian to the Modern Period

Shift in the Portrayal and Reception of Homosexuality from the Victorian to the Modern Period

Dyer, Darby

Hardcover

Literary CriticismGLBTQIA Studies

ISBN10: 1666950246
ISBN13: 9781666950243
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: Jan 29 2025
Pages: 116
Weight: 0.72
Height: 0.44 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
A Shift in the Portrayal and Reception of Homosexuality from the Victorian to the Modern Period explores how the reception of homosexuality in literature evolved and morphed greatly from the late 19th century to the 20th century and how the gender of the author played a particularly important role. Victorian society scorned and punished gay men to a harsher degree due to the subversive, taboo, and emasculating nature of male homosexuality, as evident in the reception of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. In contrast, the Modern period saw a positive portrayal and reception of homosexuality in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Modern society as well as Victorian society accepted same-sex female relationships under the assumption that women were incapable of engaging in sexual acts-an assumption influenced by Queen Victoria. Thus, on the surface, both societies tolerated female homosexuality in literature. However, this distorted tolerance was a limiting and silencing force. Darby Dyer compares the homosexuality in the works and lives of Wilde and Woolf to other authors during their time periods to address how far queer representation has come in literature and other arts. She concludes with a call to action that the fight is not over.

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