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This edition is the first to reproduce John Addington Symonds's Memoirs in its entirety. It offers a panoramic view of middle-class Victorian life, shedding light upon sexual cultures and life histories too often hidden from history. Symonds (1840-93) began writing his Memoirs in 1889. It was, he confessed, 'a foolish thing to do.' Symonds was a respected man of letters, an historian, translator, essayist and poet; he was also married with children. But rather than unfold a simple tale of public and private achievement, the Memoirs record his struggle to reconcile his homosexuality with these professional and familial identities. His autobiography offers a confessional account of relationships beyond the accepted bounds of nineteenth-century social mores, presenting an alternative case study that contests the legal and medical authorities that would label his desires a crime or disease. Yet being so eloquent on matters of heterodox sexuality, the Memoirs were suppressed. The manuscript survives because Symonds recognised its import, however 'foolish': he instructed his literary executor to preserve the text, a duty ultimately discharged by placing the manuscript under embargo in the care of the London Library.
List of contents
Contents.- Acknowledgements.- List of Figures .- L ist of Tables .- Introduction.- Notes on the Text.- The Memoirs of John Addington Symonds.- Appendix 1: Miscellaneous papers bound with the Memoirs manuscript.- Appendix 2: Letters bound with Chapter 16.- Appendix 3: Rewritten pages (MS 517a-b).- Index
About the author
Amber K. Regis is Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of Sheffield, UK. She has published essays and reviews in
Life Writing,
Journal of Victorian Culture, and the
Times Literary Supplement.
Summary
This edition is the first to reproduce John Addington Symonds's Memoirs in its entirety. The manuscript survives because Symonds recognised its import, however 'foolish': he instructed his literary executor to preserve the text, a duty ultimately discharged by placing the manuscript under embargo in the care of the London Library.
