Manly love: romantic friendship in American fiction, 1850-1900

The modern idea of Victorians is that they were emotionless prudes, imprisoned by sexual repression and suffocating social constraints; they expressed love and affection only within the bounds of matrimony—if at all. And yet, a wealth of evidence contradicting this idea has been hiding in plain sight for close to a century. In __Manly Love__, Axel Nissen turns to the novels and short stories of Victorian America to uncover the widely overlooked phenomenon of passionate friendships between men. Nissen’s examination of the literature of the period brings to light a forgotten genre: the fiction of romantic friendship. Delving into works by Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, and others, Nissen identifies the genre’s unique features and explores the connections between romantic friendships in literature and in real life. Situating love between men at the heart of Victorian culture, Nissen radically alters our understanding of the American literary canon. And with its deep insights into the emotional and intellectual life of the period, __Manly Love__ also offers a fresh perspective on nineteenth-century America’s attitudes toward love, friendship, marriage, and sex.

The modern idea of Victorians is that they were emotionless prudes, imprisoned by sexual repression and suffocating social constraints; they expressed love and affection only within the bounds of matrimony—if at all. And yet, a wealth of evidence contradicting this idea has been hiding in plain sight for close to a century. In Manly Love, Axel Nissen turns to the novels and short stories of Victorian America to uncover the widely overlooked phenomenon of passionate friendships between men.

 

Nissen’s examination of the literature of the period brings to light a forgotten genre: the fiction of romantic friendship. Delving into works by Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, and others, Nissen identifies the genre’s unique features and explores the connections between romantic friendships in literature and in real life. Situating love between men at the heart of Victorian culture, Nissen radically alters our understanding of the American literary canon. And with its deep insights into the emotional and intellectual life of the period, Manly Love also offers a fresh perspective on nineteenth-century America’s attitudes toward love, friendship, marriage, and sex.

Choice

"Nissen combines historical contextualization with fresh readings of the novels'' identity formations and cultural work in reflecting and defining acceptable masculine intimacies across the homo-social/homosexual divide. In so doing, he offers new angles on familiar texts and the cultural myths that surround them."--Choice

Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 1. What’s the Story? The Fiction of Romantic Friendship, Part I......Page 22 2. Odds ’n’ Ends: The Fiction of Romantic Friendship, Part II......Page 50 3. Sex and the City: Cecil Dreeme and the Antebellum Sex/Gender System......Page 68 4. Compulsory Domesticity: Roderick Hudson, Love, and Friendship in the Gilded Age......Page 100 5. How the Other Half Loved: A Saloonkeeper’s Daughter in the Company of Women......Page 123 6. A Tramp at Home: Huckleberry Finn, Romantic Friendship, and the Homeless Man......Page 143 7. The Other Man: Homofiliation, Marriage, and A Hazard of New Fortunes......Page 161 Abbreviations......Page 176 Notes......Page 178 Bibliography......Page 214 Index......Page 230 What's the story?: the fiction of romantic friendship, part I Odds 'n' ends: the fiction of romantic friendship, part II Sex and the city: Cecil Dreeme and antebellum sexual ideology Compulsory domesticity: Roderick Hudson, love, and friendship in the Gilded Age How the other half loved: a saloonkeeper's daughter in the company of women A tramp at home: Huckleberry Finn, romantic friendship, and the homeless man The other man: homofiliation, marriage, and a hazard of new fortunes. Examining the novels and short stories of Victorian America, this book uncovers the widely overlooked phenomenon of passionate friendships between men. It offers a fresh perspective on nineteenth-century America's attitudes toward love, friendship, marriage, and sex.