Sexual Inversion, Smoke, and Mirrors: The (In)Visibility of John Addington Symonds’s Homosexuality in his Autobiographical Writings
Symonds was the driving force behind Sexual Inversion, the first medical book about homosexuality in English. Not a doctor himself, but being a homosexual, Symonds developed his identity as a member of the Victorian upper-middle class, shaped by the norms of the time, as he told his story in his cor...
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/13882 |
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| author | William Fize |
| author_facet | William Fize |
| author_sort | William Fize |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Symonds was the driving force behind Sexual Inversion, the first medical book about homosexuality in English. Not a doctor himself, but being a homosexual, Symonds developed his identity as a member of the Victorian upper-middle class, shaped by the norms of the time, as he told his story in his correspondence and his posthumous Memoirs. He attempted to repress then conceal his homosexuality to the world and to his own eyes, trying to conform to what his father and society were expecting from him, that is to say to be an exemplary and ‘productive’ member of Victorian society (and therefore a husband and a father), even if that meant having to sublimate his desires until he could no longer do so and ‘was finally born to himself’. He then developed an ideal conception of relationships between men, and found that satisfying his sexual needs was a way of living a life worth living that would no longer make him sick as he was trying to suppress this part of himself. Reading Sexual Inversion through the lens of his autobiographical writings allows us to see a posthumous portrait of Symonds on the path to acceptance and eventually vindication of his natural homosexuality. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-920c1abfcf9a47448efb9a482883894f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| spelling | doaj-art-920c1abfcf9a47448efb9a482883894f2025-01-30T10:21:23ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492024-03-019810.4000/cve.13882Sexual Inversion, Smoke, and Mirrors: The (In)Visibility of John Addington Symonds’s Homosexuality in his Autobiographical WritingsWilliam FizeSymonds was the driving force behind Sexual Inversion, the first medical book about homosexuality in English. Not a doctor himself, but being a homosexual, Symonds developed his identity as a member of the Victorian upper-middle class, shaped by the norms of the time, as he told his story in his correspondence and his posthumous Memoirs. He attempted to repress then conceal his homosexuality to the world and to his own eyes, trying to conform to what his father and society were expecting from him, that is to say to be an exemplary and ‘productive’ member of Victorian society (and therefore a husband and a father), even if that meant having to sublimate his desires until he could no longer do so and ‘was finally born to himself’. He then developed an ideal conception of relationships between men, and found that satisfying his sexual needs was a way of living a life worth living that would no longer make him sick as he was trying to suppress this part of himself. Reading Sexual Inversion through the lens of his autobiographical writings allows us to see a posthumous portrait of Symonds on the path to acceptance and eventually vindication of his natural homosexuality.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/13882homosexualityautobiographySymonds (John Addington)Victorian sexology |
| spellingShingle | William Fize Sexual Inversion, Smoke, and Mirrors: The (In)Visibility of John Addington Symonds’s Homosexuality in his Autobiographical Writings Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens homosexuality autobiography Symonds (John Addington) Victorian sexology |
| title | Sexual Inversion, Smoke, and Mirrors: The (In)Visibility of John Addington Symonds’s Homosexuality in his Autobiographical Writings |
| title_full | Sexual Inversion, Smoke, and Mirrors: The (In)Visibility of John Addington Symonds’s Homosexuality in his Autobiographical Writings |
| title_fullStr | Sexual Inversion, Smoke, and Mirrors: The (In)Visibility of John Addington Symonds’s Homosexuality in his Autobiographical Writings |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sexual Inversion, Smoke, and Mirrors: The (In)Visibility of John Addington Symonds’s Homosexuality in his Autobiographical Writings |
| title_short | Sexual Inversion, Smoke, and Mirrors: The (In)Visibility of John Addington Symonds’s Homosexuality in his Autobiographical Writings |
| title_sort | sexual inversion smoke and mirrors the in visibility of john addington symonds s homosexuality in his autobiographical writings |
| topic | homosexuality autobiography Symonds (John Addington) Victorian sexology |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/13882 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT williamfize sexualinversionsmokeandmirrorstheinvisibilityofjohnaddingtonsymondsshomosexualityinhisautobiographicalwritings |