Secret Selves
Confession and Same-Sex Desire in Victorian Autobiography
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8075741 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samuel Lyndon Gladden (corresponding author), Oliver S Buckton (0000-0002-0261-1732) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 96-96 |
| Publication date | 1999-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | South Central Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0743-6831 • E-ISSN: 1549-3377 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3189719 |
| OpenAlex | W2007376103 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
Focusing 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 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 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. |Focusing on same-sex desire in Victorian autobiographical writing, this book offers significant new readings of works by Newman, Symonds, Wilde, Carpenter, and Forster
Archaeology · Art · Biography · Confession (law · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Same sex · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Irish and British Studies · Literature: history, themes, analysis · Modernist Literature and Criticism · Psychology
Annual Bibliography of Works about Lifewriting, 1997-1998
Performing the "Unnatural" Life
"The Sexual Politics of Victorian Historiographical Writing About the "Renaissance
Epistemology of the Cloister
Who's Afraid of John Saul? Urban Culture and the Politics of Desire in Late Victorian London
Distance and Desire in the New British Queer History
Confession as Cultural Form
Dare Not Speak Its Name
The Cloistered Pen
Gender and Religion in Recent Victorian Studies Publications
The New Other Victorians
Autobiography Without Borders
A Cellarful of Boys”
Situating System and Giving Self Its Due
| Unique citing works | 14 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 2015 (18) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 12 |