Description
Book SynopsisIn narratives ranging from Eliot's and Trollope's novels about scandalous women to Oscar Wilde's writing and his trials for homosexuality, this book shows how, in each instance, sexuality appears couched in coded terms. It is suitable to scholars and general readers interested in Victorian literature, the history of sexuality, and gender studies.
Trade Review“A provocative study, extremely well–written, engaging, and intelligent throughout. Through a series of detailed and nuanced readings, Cohen argues persuasively that novelistic discourse and the discourse of scandal were inextricably bound up with each other. Each of his extended literary analyses contains a series of observations that brilliantly clarifies the specific dynamics of literary semantics.”—Mary L. Poovey, Johns Hopkins University
“Far more refreshing and delicious than any of the ostensibly succulent fare routinely cooked up for enquiring minds by our contemporary scandal sheets, Cohen’s readings and writings induce the exhilarating shock of gay literary and cultural criticism at its most acute. With seductive intelligence and stylistic verve,
Sex Scandal offers a sophisticated treatment of a rich, fascinating, and underinterpreted topic whose pertinence to contemporary culture becomes more obvious every day. A dazzling performance.”—Joseph Litvak, Bowdoin College
