GAY STUDIES AND THE VICTORIAN PERIOD on JSTOR

At the end of the neteenth century, the gothic novel veloped a way that reflected Victorian anxieti ncerng human sexualy. Commonly referred to as the f siècle, this perd was a time when England was rapidly progrsg technologilly, scientifilly, and socially. Authors of gothic fictn began to exprs societal and cultural anxieti ncerng the velopments—as well as the very future of England—by, g trop, such as supernatural subjects, monstro characters, and ighteng plots. For example, the ntroversial role of homosexualy Brish society began to make s way to gothic novels. Authors cludg Osr Wil, Bram Stoker, and Robert Louis Stevenson—some of whom stggled wh their own sexual orientatns—enavored to create a voice for the ostracized homosexual fictn. The lerary reprentatns of same-sex sire ntributed to the awarens of and the perpetuatn of stereotyp for gay men. The morn stereotype of the “homosexual” gaed notoriety as reprentatns of same-sex relatnships emerged and as psychologil discsns attempted to expla the and treatments for such an ostensible “abnormaly” durg the perd. This ntroversial topic ncerng human sexualy was challenged by Christian valu that created engraed social attus about sexualy and moraly. Homosexualy beme a heightened issue of ntentn durg this perd when Osr Wil published his homoerotic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and was subsequently arrted for his own homosexualy, which was outlawed at the time England. In Chapter One, I show how Wil packs his text wh encrypted homoerotic them that reflect his personal inty, mock societal prejudic about human sexualy, and warn agast bld submissn to socially accepted valu. Through genr and sexualy studi and queer readgs of Wil’s work, I reveal that Dorian Gray emerg as a groundbreakg text that fi social norms and supports emergg psychologil studi of human sexual orientatn, such as Havelock Ellis’s Sexual Inversn (1897). In Chapter Two, I e Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) to expla how the supernatural elements of the gothic were a mechanism for monizg the homosexual and characterizg gays as “other” a society that rejects and punish queerns. By evaluatg Stoker’s own ambiguo sexualy alongsi his generally homophobic novel, I show how Eve Kosofksy Sedgwick’s ia of “homosexual panic” helps to expla the drivg force supprsg the emergg homosexual durg the age. In this way, Stoker’s homophobic novel is both a personal way of nyg his own sexualy and his means of