Dialogue and Deviance

Male-Male Desire in the Dialogue Genre (Plato to Aelred, Plato to Sade, Plato to the Postmodern)

R. Sturges

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN:
  9780312230692
• eBook ISBN:
  9781403978516
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Critica letteraria

This book traces the historical relationship between male-male erotic desire and the genre of literary or philosophical dialogue. It describes three literary-philosophical traditions, each of which originates in a different Platonic dialogue whose subsequent influence can be traced, first, through the Roman and medieval periods; second, through the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods; and, finally, through the modern and postmodern periods. Sturges demonstrates that various forms of erotic deviance have been differently valued in these different periods and cultures, and that dialogue has consistently proven to be the genre of choice for expressing these changing values. This study provides a valuable historical perspective on current debates over the place of homosexuality in modern Western culture.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Erotics of Friendship: From Plato's Lysis to Aelred of Rievaulx
• 2 Spiritual Erotics: From Plato's Symposium to Sade's La Philosophie dans le boudoir
• 3 Erotic Style: From Plato's Phaedrus to the Modern Novel
• Conclusion: Deviant Erotics from Plato to the Postmodern
• Notes
• Index