Theories of sexuality and desire are commonly used in literary and cultural studies. In this illuminating study Joseph Bristow introduces readers to the fundamental critical debates surrounding the topic.

This fully updated second edition includes:

• a historical account of sexuality from the Victorians to the present


• discussions of the most influential theorists including Freud, Lacan, Bataille, Baudrillard, Cixous, Deleuze, Irigaray and Kristeva


• a new and extended discussion of queer and transgender theory, race, ethnicity and...

The most significant resource for any researcher wishing to understand the finer details of Oscar Wilde s remarkable career, the Oscar Wilde and His Circle archive at the University of California, Los Angeles houses the world s largest collection of materials relating to the life and work of the gifted Irish writer. Wilde Discoveries brings together thirteen studies based on research done in this archive that span the course of Wilde s work and shed light on previously neglected aspects of Wilde s lively and varied professional and personal life.

This volume offers fresh...

Originally published in 1991. Focusing on ‘boys' own’ literature, this book examines the reasons why such a distinct type of combative masculinity developed during the heyday of the British Empire. This book reveals the motives that produced this obsessive focus on boyhood. In Victorian Britain many kinds of writing, from the popular juvenile weeklies to parliamentary reports, celebrated boys of all classes as the heroes of their day. Fighting fit, morally upright, and proudly patriotic - these adventurous young men were set forth on imperial missions, civilizing a savage world. Such...