Byron's Othered Self and Voice: Contextualizing the Homographic SignaturePeter Lang, 2003 - 162 pages By analyzing the English Romantic Era's masculine gender norms as a set of contrasts between a heterosexual «norm» and a sodomitic «other», this book isolates four tropes that distinguish the sodomite: criminality, silence, effeminacy, and foreignness. These tropes are then traced through Byron's early poetry, the first two cantos of Childe Harold and the popular Oriental tales, demonstrating the ways the Byronic persona and the Byronic hero are deeply indebted to the conflicted sites of homosexual meaning in the Romantic age. Discussions of legal and literary cases, as well as attention to the political implications of heterosexuality as an ideal created to serve a (re)productive ideology of empire, make this study of interest not only to Romantic scholars, but also to scholars of gender theory, history, and postcolonial studies. |
Common terms and phrases
abject ambiguity argues attempts Beckford becomes body boundaries boys Bride of Abydos Byron's homosexuality Byron's writing Byronic hero Canto Childe Harold Cleland Conrad Corsair crime Crompton cross-dressing culture death desire despotic discourses on sodomy displacement domestic Eastern world Edleston effeminacy effeminate eighteenth century empire England English erotic escape Fanny fear female figure fisherman foreign Foucault gaze gender Giaffir Giaour gothic Greek grief Gulnare Gulnare's Hassan heterosexual History homoerotic homoeroticism homographic homosexual meaning ideal identified identity irony Kaled Kaled's Lara Lara's Leila lover male mark masculinity McGann Medora methodiste molly houses narrative narrator nineteenth century normative novel oriental pederasty pirate pleasure poem poet produce prohibitions punishment racial regulation relations relationship representations reveals Romantic says scene secret Selim sense sexual subjectivity signs silence social sodomite speak suggests tale tear tion tropes Turkish Vathek Vere Street William Beckford woman women York Zuleika