Pleasure Bound

In the 1860s, two groups of London bohemians-the Cannibal Club and the Aesthetes-challenged Victorian propriety to promote erotic freedom and expression. Sensually attuned and politically radical, among them were the most influential thinkers and artists of the day, from Richard Burton to Dante Gabr [...]
Visa längre beskrivning

In the 1860s, two groups of London bohemians-the Cannibal Club and the Aesthetes-challenged Victorian propriety to promote erotic freedom and expression. Sensually attuned and politically radical, among them were the most influential thinkers and artists of the day, from Richard Burton to Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris. These iconoclasts navigated the fringes of sexual deviance with their bodies, carrying the pleasures of the body into their work, creating a taboo-loving counterculture whose reverberations can be felt today. In this nuanced expose of the Victorian London we thought we knew, Deborah Lutz takes us beyond the eyebrow-raising practices of these sex rebels, showing us how their work uncovered troubles that ran beneath the surface of the larger social fabric: the struggle for women's emancipation, the dissolution of traditional religion and the need to expand accepted forms of sexual expression.