Description
Book SynopsisIn the late nineteenth century, a young Italian aristocrat made an astonishing confession: In a series of revealing letters, he frankly described his sexual experiences with other men. This is the first complete, unexpurgated version in English of this remarkable queer autobiography.
Trade ReviewA brilliant archival discovery, a triumph of careful scholarship, an unsuspected episode in modern literature, a moving testimony about sex and love, and a fascinating, previously censored chapter in the history of sexuality. Rosenfeld masterfully restores the context in which conscious writing about homosexuality emerged in Europe during the last decades of the nineteenth century. -- David Halperin, W. H. Auden Distinguished University Professor, University of Michigan
The contributors to this brilliantly edited and translated text make the queer past come alive. Readers will not only recognize a young man’s struggle with his gender and sexual identities, but also the difficulty he had in telling his own story in a homophobic society. -- Andrew Israel Ross, author of
Public City/Public Sex: Homosexuality, Prostitution, and Urban Culture in Nineteenth-Century ParisWhether you persist in reading it as a proto-naturalist novel (despite the opinions of the editors of this volume) or treat it as a sociological document,
The Italian Invert is a classic text of nineteenth-century sexology the interest of which is by no means limited to French (or Italian) studies. Richly enhanced here with critical notes, this volume makes a revised and expanded version of the primary documents available in English and also adds important essays that situate and enlarge their scope. The text reflects the latest archival discoveries, which include manuscripts and illustrations, as well as new information about the mysterious "Dr. Laupts." Whether one is interested in the history of (homo)sexuality or in literary questions (such as the "queerness" of Zola), this is an indispensable tool that belongs on every researcher's shelf. -- Melanie Hawthorne, Texas A&M University
The 'Italian invert’s confessions' have long been known to historians of sexuality, yet this new edition lends them an authenticity never before enjoyed....The editors have included everything scholars might want to know: abundant annotations, prefaces, commentaries on each recension, and a full index. * European Legacy *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Prologue, by Cyrille Zola-Place
Foreword to the French Edition, by Alain Pagès
Foreword to the American Edition, by Vernon A. Rosario
Introduction: The
Ménage-à-Trois of Zola, Saint-Paul, and the Italian “Invert,” by Michael Rosenfeld with Nancy Erber
Part I: The Confessions of a Homosexual to Émile ZolaPreface by Émile Zola
The Novel of an Invert
The Sequel to the Novel of an Invert
Other Particularities
The Italian Man’s Family Tree, by Michael Rosenfeld
Part II: Selected Works by Dr. Georges Saint-PaulDr. Georges Saint-Paul, Man of Science, by Clive Thomson
First Edition (1896)
In Memoriam: Émile Zola
Second Edition (1910)
Third Edition (1930)
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
