Visions of Queer Martyrdom from John Henry Newman to Derek Jarman
Janes, Dominic (2015) Visions of Queer Martyrdom from John Henry Newman to Derek Jarman. Other. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.
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This book examines the development within the nineteenth-century Church of England of a subject position of closeted queer servitude to Christ which allowed a certain degree of scope for the development of aspects of same-sex desire. The book explores this theme by presenting a series of case studies. The first of these considers the liturgical expression of queer desire in the Victorian Eucharist and the way in which this provided an inspiration for artists, such as Simeon Solomon, who were looking to express their own feelings of sexual deviance. The second case study begins by examining the way in which Victorian monasteries could function as queer families before developing an analysis of the way in which the Biblical story of the love of David and Jonathan could be employed to develop forms of (primarily) chaste same-sex partnerships. Then the book explores the way in which ecclesiastical material culture could be employed by artists and writers in the furtherance of queer self-expression. The work finishes by exploring case studies of the life and works of Oscar Wilde and Derek Jarman to illustrate both the limitations and the on-going significance of Christianity as an inspiration for expressions of same-sex desire. This study also provides historical context against which the current furore over the issues of ‘gays in the Church’ can be evaluated.
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