The Memoirs of John Addington Symonds: A Critical Edition (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781349953721)

This edition is the first to reproduce John Addington Symonds's Memoirs in its entirety. It offers a panoramic view of middle-class Victorian life, shedding light upon sexual cultures and life histories too often hidden from history. Symonds (1840-93) began writing his Memoirs in 1889. It was, he confessed, 'a foolish thing to do.' Symonds was a respected man of letters, an historian, translator, essayist and poet; he was also married with children. But rather than unfold a simple tale of public and private achievement, the Memoirs record his struggle to reconcile his homosexuality with these professional and familial identities. His autobiography offers a confessional account of relationships beyond the accepted bounds of nineteenth-century social mores, presenting an alternative case study that contests the legal and medical authorities that would label his desires a crime or disease. Yet being so eloquent on matters of heterodox sexuality, the Memoirs were suppressed. The manuscriptsurvives because Symonds recognised its import, however 'foolish': he instructed his literary executor to preserve the text, a duty ultimately discharged by placing the manuscript under embargo in the care of the London Library.

Author: Amber K. Regis
ISBN-10: 1349953725
ISBN-13: 9781349953721
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 07/15/2018
Pages: 587
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.58lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 1.23d