When Passion Reigned: Sex And The VictoriansPatricia Anderson argues that far from being the prudes of modern legend, the Victorians were avidly engaged in the erotic side of life. They were, Anderson boldly proclaims, actually sexier than we are, despite the sexual revolution. When Passion Reigned evokes an era utterly different from our own: a time when sexuality was carefully nurtured rather than exploited, a time when passion was a quiet but constant and visible presence. Drawing upon many previously untapped Victorian sources - advertisements, valentines, and songs, as well as poetry and romances once widely read but now mostly forgotten - Anderson reveals the pervasiveness of the erotic in everyday Victorian life. It was the stuff of popular fiction and poetry, the heart of fashion in clothing and underclothing, the driving force in courtship rituals, and even the central attraction of the ever-present Victorian parlor piano. Its traces remain in the pages of old romances, in the lyrics of music hall songs, and in once private diaries and love letters. |
Contents
BOSOMS AND BUSTLES | 25 |
MUSCLES AND MANHOOD | 49 |
THE MAKING OF LOVEMAKING | 71 |
Copyright | |
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actress advertisement attractive beauty blood blush Bodleian Library bosom Bow Bells Boy Pirate breasts British Library brothels bustle Charles Kingsley clothing corset couples crinoline Culture death disease doctors domestic Dracula dress Ellen Ternan emotional England erotic Fanny Fashion and Eroticism feminine flagellation flesh G. W. M. Reynolds Gender George W. M. Reynolds Girl governess Hardy heroes heroines heterosexuality History husband ideal illustration John Johnson Collection ladies legs lives London Journal lovemaking lover Magazine male sexual manhood manly marital marriage married masculine masturbation men's menopause middle-class music hall myth naked nineteenth century Oxford passion Pearl Pears Peter Peter Gay photograph physical piano pleasure popular fiction pornography prostitution Quoted ibid rape readers reprint Reverend Reynolds Reynolds's Miscellany Romance of Lust romantic Ronald Pearsall Serialized Soap social songs sport symbol tion trousers valentines Valerie Steele Victorian period Victorian sexual mystique Victorian women wife working-class young woman