The Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England
Even more startling for most people, though, will be Steven Marcus's classicThe Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England. First published in 1966, it will be reissued by Transaction in September with a new introduction by the author. This is not a book to read just because Foucault alluded to it in the first volume ofThe History of Sexuality, or even because Marcus was doing cultural studies well before anybody was calling it that. All duly noted, of course. ButThe Other Victoriansis fascinating in its own right -- a riveting look at how Victorian smut reconciled desire and anxiety in a vision of insatiable excess that Marcus calls "pornotopia."– Scott McLemee,Inside Higher Ed--This text refers to an alternatePaperbackedition.