The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity

Aims to demolish the conception that the homosexual is a distinctive species invented in the modern age. The text argues against "social constructionist" theories in lesbian and gay studies, proposing a case for the autonomy of queer identities and culture. It presents evidence that queers are part of a centuries-old history, possessing a unified historical and cultural identity. The volume reviews the fundamental historiograhical issues about the nature of queer history, arguing that a new generation of queer historians will need to abandon authoritarian dogma founded upon politically-correct ideology rather than historical experience.

Politics & Social Sciences

Norton, Rictor

Social Sciences

UNKNO

With careful reasoning supported by wide-ranging scholarship, cultural historian Rictor Norton exposes the fallacies of "social constructionist" theories that currently dominate lesbian and gay studies, and argues the case for the autonomy of queer identities and culture. Addressing the general (queer) reader in clear jargon-free terms, the author unashamedly sites himself within the "essentialist" camp, and presents the evidence that queers are part of a centuries old history, possessing a unified historical cultural identity.
Norton reviews the fundamental historiographical issues about the nature of queer history, arguing that a new generation of queer historians will need to abandon authoritarian dogma founded upon politically correct ideology rather than historical experience. The author argues that queer culture - with its ethic customs and traditions - is the proper subject of queer history, rather than the usual emphasis upon homophobia which little more than a history of heterosexual prejudice. He examines how queer identity has been formed by a sense of historical context as well as a sense of sexual orientation, and re-evaluates the contribution made by culturally identified queers to the recovery of queer history. He offers a clear exposition of the evidence or ancient, indigenous and pre-modern queer cultural continuity, revealing how knowledge of that history has been suppressed and censored. The author sets forth the "queer cultural essentialist" position on the key topics of queer history - role, identity, bisexuality, orientation, linguistics, social control, homophobia, subcultures, kinship patterns - and redraws the battle lines for future debate.

Noton, Rictor

This is the biography of the Gothic novelist, Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), author of "The Mysteries of Udolpho", the world's first "best seller". The text clarifies Radcliffe's emergence from a Dissenting Unitarian, rather than a conventional Anglican, background. This places Radcliffe within the circle of other women writers nurtured in radical Dissenting backgrounds (such as Wollstonecraft, Hays, Inchbauld and Barbauld). Radcliffe's childhood and family background are documented and the rumours of her madness and reclusiveness investigated leading to an evaluation of the resons for her probable mental breakdown. The text constitutes a "cultural history" of a writing woman, demonstrating her place within radical culture, literary tradition and aesthetic discourse, and examining her role in the rise of the professional woman writer. Her novels are analyzed mainly in the context of her biography and sources

Mistress of Udolpho: The Life of Ann Radcliffe

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

This is the biography of the Gothic novelist, Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), author of "The Mysteries of Udolpho", the world's first "best seller". The text clarifies Radcliffe's emergence from a Dissenting Unitarian, rather than a conventional Anglican, background. This places Radcliffe within the circle of other women writers nurtured in radical Dissenting backgrounds (such as Wollstonecraft, Hays, Inchbauld and Barbauld). Radcliffe's childhood and family background are documented and the rumours of her madness and reclusiveness investigated leading to an evaluation of the resons for her probable mental breakdown. The text constitutes a "cultural history" of a writing woman, demonstrating her place within radical culture, literary tradition and aesthetic discourse, and examining her role in the rise of the professional woman writer. Her novels are analyzed mainly in the context of her biography and sources.

Leicester University Press

This is an anthology of Gothic literature, set within the context of contemporary criticism and readers' responses. It includes selections from the major practitioners - including Horace Walpole, William Beckford, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Coleridge, William Godwin, Mary Shelley, Charles Robert Maturin and Edgar Allan Poe -and many of their followers as well as contemporary reviews, private letters and diaries, chapbooks, and contemporary anecdotes about dramatic performances and the design of theatre sets. The selections provide representative samples of the major genres - historical gothic, the Radcliffe school of terror, the Lewis school of horror, tragic melodrama, comic parody, supernatural poetry and ballads, book reviews and literary criticism and anti-Gothic polemic. Also covered are the major Gothic issues such as the aesthetics of the sublime, religion and the supernatural and the influence of ancient romance, including vampires, spectres, orphans, the Inquisition, bandetti, nuns, storms and ruined castles, and social themes. A general introduction reviews the major approaches to Gothic literature, and short introductions place individual selections in context. All the tests are based on first editions.

Gothic Readings

Literature & Fiction

British & Irish

Continnuum-3PL

This pioneering historical study is the first comprehensive chronicle of the English gay community at its 18th-century roots, sporting for the first time a distinctive subculture with its "molly houses", "sodomites' walks", "maiden names" and gay slang. Rictor Norton's research into trial records and contemporary documents establishes a vital cornerstone for the reconstruction of gay history. Challenging in its demonstration that the molly subculture was primarily a working-class community of blacksmiths, milkmen, publicans and shopkeepers, Mother Clap's Molly House also records the exuberant lives of personalities such as Charles Hitchin the "thief-taker", the dramatists Samuel Foote and Isaac Bickerstaff, William Beckford of Fonthill, and Rev. John Church, prosecuted for his blessing of gay marriages. All these are set against a backdrop of persecution, blackmail and the pillory. And yes, "Mother Clap's" actually was the name of a prominent molly house!

Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830

Self-Help

Heretic Books

With careful reasoning supported by wide-ranging scholarship, this study exposes the fallacies of 'social constructionist' theories within lesbian and gay studies and makes a forceful case for the autonomy of queer identity and culture. It presents evidence that queers are part of a centuries-old history, possessing a unified historical and cultural identity. The volume reviews the fundamental historiographical issues about the nature of queer history, arguing that a new generation of queer historians will need to abandon authoritarian dogma founded upon politically-correct ideology rather than historical experience. Norton offers a clear exposition of the evidence for ancient, indigenous and pre-modern queer cultural continuity, revealing how knowledge of that history has been suppressed and censored and sets out the 'queer cultural essentialist' position on the key topics of queer history – role, identity, bisexuality, orientation, linguistics, social control, homophobia, subcultures, and kinship patterns.

Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity (Gender Studies: Bloomsbury Academic Collections)

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Bloomsbury Academic

This pioneering study breaks new ground in presenting the gay community's history by sporting one of its more distinctive branches—molly houses. In this updated edition, with two new chapters, Rictor Norton digs deeper into both past and present to rediscover the original foundations of the molly subculture and challenges traditional notions by suggesting that it was primarily composed of the working class—blacksmiths, milkmen, publicans, and shoemakers. More extravagant personalities are investigated as well, such as dramatists Samuel Foote and Isaac Bickerstaff, and the Rev. John Church, denounced for blessing gay "marriages."

Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700–1830

Nonsuch Publishing

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Books by Norton, Rictor

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Norton, Rictor. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity

The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity

Mistress of Udolpho: The Life of Ann Radcliffe

Mistress of Udolpho: The Life of Ann Radcliffe

Gothic Readings

Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830

Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity (Gender Studies: Bloomsbury Academic Collections)

Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700–1830