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. |
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WHEN PASSION REIGNED: Sex and the Victorians
User Review - Jane Doe - KirkusAn enthusiastic endorsement of the healthy and passionate sex lives of the Victorians. In recent years, academic historians and literary critics have revised the long-held view that the Victorians ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - wealhtheowwylfing - LibraryThingA mediocre examination of attitudes toward sex during the Victorian era. The author is confused about her own thesis Read full review
Contents
BOSOMS AND BUSTLES | 25 |
MUSCLES AND MANHOOD | 49 |
Chapter THE MAKING OF LOVEMAKING | 71 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown
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actress advertisement attractive beauty blush Bodleian Library body bosom Bow Bells breasts British Library brothels bustle Carlyle Charles Kingsley clothing corset couples crinoline Culture death disease doctors domestic Dracula dress Ellen Ternan emotional England enjoyed erotic Fanny fantasies Fashion and Eroticism female feminine flagellation flesh G. W. M. Reynolds Gender George W. M. Reynolds girls governess Hardy heroes heroines heterosexuality History husband ideal illustration John Johnson Collection ladies legs letters lives London Journal lovemaking lover Magazine male sexual manhood manly marital marriage married masculine masturbation men's menopause middle-class moral music hall myth naked nineteenth century Oxford passion Pearl Peter Gay photograph physical piano pleasure popular fiction pornography prostitution Quoted ibid rape readers reprint Reverend Reynolds's Miscellany Romance of Lust romantic Ronald Pearsall Soap social sport symbol tights tion valentines Valerie Steele Victo Victorian period Victorian sexual mystique Victorian women waist wife working-class
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Bibliographic information
| Title | When Passion Reigned: Sex and the Victorians |
| Author | Patricia J. Anderson |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | BasicBooks, 1995 |
| Original from | the University of Virginia |
| Digitized | May 23, 2008 |
| ISBN | 0465089917, 9780465089918 |
| Length | 209 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |