The New Life

December 30, 2023 6:21 PM

In 1894, John Addington and Henry Ellis (fictionalized versions of John Addington Symonds and Havelock Ellis) begin corresponding toward writing a scientific study of homosexuality called Sexual Inversion. The book--its writing and reception--are thrown into chaos by the trial of Oscar Wilde, but there is a deeper chaos in each man's life which will be exposed.
posted by mittens (2 comments total)

I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. As an avid reader of popular histories of Victorian science, psychology and sexuality, I found this book ticked all the boxes for a pleasure-read, but the intense emotion of the characters and the way their culture binds them, threw the story into so much depth. Watching one man essentially self-destruct in his question to be honest to himself, and the other struck down in his fear of ever mentioning his own desires, could have made for a sort of staring-at-a-trainwreck voyeurism, but Crewe really plunges you into their psyches, their frames of reference, in a very humane way. However, a warning to the straight reader, that this book will definitely and irrevocably turn you gay. Sorry about that.
posted by mittens at 6:26 PM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Oh, and I meant to provide a link to an interview with the author!
posted by mittens at 6:28 PM on December 30, 2023