The
Burdens of Intimacy : Psychoanalysis and Victorian Masculinity by
Christopher Lane
Why does passion bewilder and torment so many
Victorian protagonists? And why do many literary characters
experience moments of ecstasy before their deaths? In this
original study, Christopher Lane shows why Victorian fiction
conveys both the pleasure and anguish of intimacy. Examining works
by Bulwer-Lytton, Swinburne, Schreiner, Hardy, James, Wilde,
Santayana, and Forster, he argues that these writers struggled
with aspects of psychology that were undermining the utilitarian
ethos of the Victorian age.
"Combining tough-minded polemic with
intellectual flexibility, Lane revises Foucault's, Sedgwick's, and
John Kucich's claims that erotic desire, homosocial love, and
eroticized self-expression are products of social prohibition and
collective alienation. With the help of a subtle array of critical
readings, Lane recovers from eight Victorian and early-twentieth
century novelists and poets a powerful theoretical model of eros
and its relation to collective life. Lane's model instances sex,
sexual intimacy, and especially same-sex intimacy, as a constant
check on our desire to resolve the enigmas of sexual relations and
social being." -- Robert L. Caserio, author of Plot,
Story, and the Novel: From Dickens and Poe to the Modern Period
"This book counts among the finest works of
literary criticism to have been published on nineteenth-century
writing in recent years. It also makes a highly original
contribution to critical texts that stand at the intersection of
psychoanalytic theory and lesbian, gay, and bisexual
studies." -- Joseph Bristow, author of Sexuality
