From Library Journal
Hanson (English, Cornell Univ.) examines 19th-century aesthetes who found in the Roman Catholic Church an outlet for artistic and sexual expression. Many writers, such as Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, and Walter Pater, have been attracted to the improbable mixture of chaste devotion and homoeroticism that exists in the materialistic Church. The perplexing question is: Why are so many homosexuals attracted to Catholic institutions that condemn homosexuality and, as a rule, are not permitted to sublimate? This seduction expresses itself in the decadent writings of the Victorian writers, and Hanson studies these writings of sexual pleasure as an important element of religious experience as well as a source of inspiration for the writers. Scholarly in tone, this is for larger literary collections.?Leo Vincent Kriz, West Des Moines Lib., Ia.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
