Houses, Secrets, and the Closet: Locating Masculinities from the Gothic Novel to Henry James (Lettre)

Houses, Secrets, and the Closet: Locating Masculinities from the Gothic Novel to Henry James (Lettre)
by: Gero Bauer (Author)
Publisher:Transcript Verlag
Publication Date: 15 April 2016
Language:English
Print Length:234 pages
ISBN-10:383763468X
ISBN-13:9783837634686
Book Description
Houses, Secrets, and the Closet”” investigates the literary production of masculinities and their relation to secrets and sexualities in 18th and 19th century fiction. It focusses on close readings of Gothic fiction, Sensation Novels, and tales by Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, William Godwin, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Wilkie Collins, and Henry James. The study approaches these texts through the lens of domestic space, gender, knowledge, and power. This approach serves to investigate the cultural roots of the ‘closet’ – the male homosexual secret – which reveals a more general notion of male secrecy in modern society. The study thus contributes to a better understanding of the cultural history of masculinities and sexualities.
About the Author
Houses, Secrets, and the Closet”” investigates the literary production of masculinities and their relation to secrets and sexualities in 18th and 19th century fiction. It focusses on close readings of Gothic fiction, Sensation Novels, and tales by Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, William Godwin, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Wilkie Collins, and Henry James. The study approaches these texts through the lens of domestic space, gender, knowledge, and power. This approach serves to investigate the cultural roots of the ‘closet’ – the male homosexual secret – which reveals a more general notion of male secrecy in modern society. The study thus contributes to a better understanding of the cultural history of masculinities and sexualities.