Homosexuality and Civilization

Portada
Harvard University Press, 2009 - 648 pàgines
How have major civilizations of the last two millennia treated people who were attracted to their own sex? In a narrative tour de force, Louis Crompton chronicles the lives and achievements of homosexual men and women alongside a darker history of persecution, as he compares the Christian West with the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, Arab Spain, imperial China, and pre-Meiji Japan. Ancient Greek culture celebrated same-sex love in history, literature, and art, making high claims for its moral influence. By contrast, Jewish religious leaders in the sixth century B.C.E. branded male homosexuality as a capital offense and, later, blamed it for the destruction of the biblical city of Sodom. When these two traditions collided in Christian Rome during the late empire, the tragic repercussions were felt throughout Europe and the New World. Louis Crompton traces Church-inspired mutilation, torture, and burning of sodomites in sixth-century Byzantium, medieval France, Renaissance Italy, and in Spain under the Inquisition. But Protestant authorities were equally committed to the execution of homosexuals in the Netherlands, Calvin's Geneva, and Georgian England. The root cause was religious superstition, abetted by political ambition and sheer greed. Yet from this cauldron of fears and desires, homoerotic themes surfaced in the art of the Renaissance masters--Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Sodoma, Cellini, and Caravaggio--often intertwined with Christian motifs. Homosexuality also flourished in the court intrigues of Henry III of France, Queen Christina of Sweden, James I and William III of England, Queen Anne, and Frederick the Great. Anti-homosexual atrocities committed in the West contrast starkly with the more tolerant traditions of pre-modern China and Japan, as revealed in poetry, fiction, and art and in the lives of emperors, shoguns, Buddhist priests, scholars, and actors. In the samurai tradition of Japan, Crompton makes clear, the celebration of same-sex love rivaled that of ancient Greece. Sweeping in scope, elegantly crafted, and lavishly illustrated, Homosexuality and Civilization is a stunning exploration of a rich and terrible past.
 

Continguts

I
1
II
3
III
6
IV
10
V
15
VI
20
VII
23
VIII
24
LXX
217
LXXI
220
LXXII
222
LXXIII
223
LXXIV
225
LXXV
228
LXXVI
231
LXXVII
236

IX
25
X
32
XI
34
XII
36
XIII
39
XIV
43
XV
46
XVI
49
XVII
51
XVIII
52
XIX
53
XX
55
XXI
60
XXII
63
XXIII
65
XXIV
66
XXV
67
XXVI
69
XXVII
74
XXVIII
79
XXIX
82
XXX
84
XXXI
86
XXXII
87
XXXIII
90
XXXIV
92
XXXV
94
XXXVI
97
XXXVII
99
XXXVIII
101
XXXIX
103
XL
105
XLI
111
XLII
112
XLIII
115
XLIV
118
XLV
120
XLVI
124
XLVII
127
XLVIII
129
XLIX
131
L
136
LI
139
LII
142
LIII
150
LIV
151
LV
153
LVI
156
LVII
161
LVIII
172
LIX
175
LX
178
LXI
183
LXII
186
LXIII
189
LXIV
192
LXV
196
LXVI
201
LXVII
204
LXVIII
208
LXIX
213
LXXVIII
240
LXXIX
245
LXXX
246
LXXXI
247
LXXXII
251
LXXXIII
262
LXXXIV
269
LXXXV
278
LXXXVI
286
LXXXVII
291
LXXXVIII
300
LXXXIX
308
XC
314
XCI
321
XCII
324
XCIII
328
XCIV
331
XCV
335
XCVI
339
XCVII
345
XCVIII
350
XCIX
355
C
361
CI
362
CII
366
CIII
368
CIV
371
CV
378
CVI
381
CVII
388
CVIII
391
CIX
397
CX
402
CXI
411
CXII
413
CXIII
419
CXIV
424
CXV
428
CXVI
431
CXVII
438
CXVIII
444
CXIX
451
CXX
456
CXXI
462
CXXII
472
CXXIII
478
CXXIV
488
CXXV
493
CXXVI
500
CXXVII
504
CXXVIII
512
CXXIX
519
CXXX
524
CXXXI
528
CXXXII
536
CXXXIII
543
CXXXIV
564
CXXXV
598
CXXXVI
600
CXXXVII
605
Copyright

Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot

Frases i termes més freqüents

Sobre l'autor (2009)

Louis Crompton was Professor of English, Emeritus, at the University of Nebraska.

Informació bibliogràfica