Sexual restraint and aesthetic experience in Victorian literary decadence / Sarah Green, University of Oxford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Green, Sarah, 1989- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture ; 142.

Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture Series ; volume 142

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Decadence (Literary movement)--Great Britain.

Decadence (Literary movement).

English literature--19th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

Sexual abstinence in literature.

Sexual ethics in literature.

Sex customs in literature.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Literary criticism

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 266 pages).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Summary:

"Can sexual restraint be good for you? Many Victorians thought so. This book explores the surprisingly positive construction of sexual restraint in an unlikely place: late nineteenth-century Decadence. Reading Decadent texts alongside Victorian writing about sexual health, including medical literature, adverts, advice books, and periodical articles, it identifies an intellectual Paterian tradition of sensuous continence, in which 'healthy' pleasure is distinguished from its 'harmful' counterpart. Recent work on Decadent sexuality concentrates on transgression and subversion, with restraint interpreted ahistorically as evidence of repression/sublimation or queer coding. Here Sarah Green examines the work of Walter Pater, Lionel Johnson, Vernon Lee, and George Moore to outline a co-extensive alternative approach to sexuality where restraint figured as a productive part of the 'aesthetic life', or a practical ethics shaped by aesthetic principles. Attending to this tradition reveals neglected connections within and beyond Decadence, bringing fresh perspective to its late nineteenth- and twentieth-century reception"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Loss and gain : the Victorian sexual body

'A passionate coldness' : Walter Pater

'A holy indifference and tolerant favour' : Lionel Johnson

'An ascetic epicureanism' : Vernon Lee

'Men have died of love' : George Moore.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based upon online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed February 19th, 2024).

Other Format:

Print version: Green, Sarah, 1989- Sexual restraint and aesthetic experience in Victorian literary decadence.

ISBN:

9781108912136

1108912133

9781108917490

1108917496

OCLC:

1374427920

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.