Alternative histories of the self : a cultural history of sexuality and secrets, 1762-1917
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Alternative histories of the self : a cultural history of sexuality and secrets, 1762-1917
Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, c2017
- : pb
Available at 2 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
"First published 2017. Paperback edition first published 2019"--T.p. verso
Includes bibliographies and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This open access book investigates how people re-imagined the idea of the unique self in the period from 1762 to 1917. Some used the notion of the unique self to justify their gender and sexual transgression, but others rejected the notion of the unique self and instead demanded the sacrifice of the self for the good of society. The substantial introductory chapter places these themes in the cultural context of the long nineteenth century, but the book as a whole represents an alternative method for studying the self. Instead of focusing on the thoughts of great thinkers, this book explores how five unusual individuals twisted conventional ideas of the self as they interpreted their own lives. These subjects include:
* The Chevalièr/e d’Eon, a renegade diplomat who was outed as a woman
* Anne Lister, who wrote coded diaries about her attraction to women
* Richard Johnson, who secretly criticized the empire that he served
* James Hinton, a Victorian doctor who publicly advocated philanthropy and privately supported polygamy
* Edith Ellis, a socialist lesbian who celebrated the ‘abnormal’
These five case studies are skilfully used to explore how the notion of the unique individual was used to make sense of sexual or gender non-conformity. Yet this queer reading will go beyond same-sex desire to analyse the issue of secrets and privacy; for instance, what stigma did men who practiced or advocated unconventional relationships with women incur? Finally, Clark ties these unusual lives to the wider questions of ethics and social justice: did those who questioned sexual conventions challenge political traditions as well?
This is a highly innovative study that will be of interest to intellectual historians of modern Britain and Europe, as well as historians of gender and sexuality.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Knowledge Unlatched.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
1. Introduction: Celebrating or Rejecting the Unique Self
2. The Chevalièr/e d’Eon: Transgender Heroine, Pugnacious Diplomat, or Pious Lady?
3. Secrets and Lies: Anne Lister's Love for Women and the Natural Self
4. Richard Johnson and the Imperial Self
5. James Hinton and the Sacrifice of the Self
6. ‘Better to be an Active Devil than a Crushed Saint’: Edith Ellis and the New Life
Afterword
Notes
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"