The Sculptural Body In Victorian Literature Encrypted Sexualities Patricia Pulham by Patricia Pulham 9780748693436, 0748693432 instant download after payment.

• Theorises the function of the sculptural body in Victorian poetry and prose
• Offers thorough readings of sculpture in Victorian texts and contexts
• Examines a wide range of works by well-known and lesser-known writers of the period (e.g. Thomas Hardy, John Ruskin, Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater, Vernon Lee, Olive Custance, Arthur O’Shaughnessy)
• Extends the British focus to encompass nineteenth-century European and American writings

This book argues that, in Victorian literature, desires which cannot be openly acknowledged are often buried and encrypted in the marble bodies of statues. Examining sculpture’s ubiquity in Victorian galleries and museums Pulham observes that, while touch is prohibited in these cultural locations, Victorian texts offer ‘safe’ spaces where statues may be kissed or caressed using metaphors of tactility that work at the intersections of touch and vision to permit the recovery of forbidden love.