Virginal Sexuality and Textuality in Victorian Literature

Download or read book Virginal Sexuality and Textuality in Victorian Literature written by Lloyd Davis and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the figure of the virgin, a symbol central to many aspects of society and sexuality in nineteenth-century England, and its effects on the Victorian literary imagination. Studying the virgin as a social, sexual, and literary phenomenon, the volume contributes to current critical accounts of the relations among the body and language, gender, and discourse. These essays explore the ways in which virginity is not a natural ideal but a complex cultural and literary sign. The authors rethink the virginal as a textual counter-example to the idealization of "natural sexuality."