000 02627cam a2200277 i 4500
999 _c102154
_d102154
003 DLC
005 20211122150240.0
008 160212s2016 ilua b 000 0 eng c
020 _a9780226393780 : (hbk)
040 _aICU/DLC
_beng
_cICU
_dIeDuRDS
082 0 0 _a920
_223
100 1 _aGoldhill, Simon,
_9122073
245 1 2 _aA very queer family indeed :
_bsex, religion, and the Bensons in Victorian Britain /
_cSimon Goldhill.
260 _aChicago ;
_aLondon :
_bThe University of Chicago Press,
_c2016.
300 _a337 pages:
_bill. ;
_c24 cm
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references.
520 _a"We can begin with a kiss, though this will not turn out to be a love story, at least not a love story of anything like the usual kind." So begins A Very Queer Family Indeed, which introduces us to the extraordinary Benson family. Edward White Benson became Archbishop of Canterbury at the height of Queen Victoria&#x;s reign, while his wife, Mary, was renowned for her wit and charm -- the prime minister once wondered whether she was "the cleverest woman in England or in Europe." The couple&#x;s six precocious children included E. F. Benson, celebrated creator of the Mapp and Lucia novels, and Margaret Benson, the first published female Egyptologist. What interests Simon Goldhill most, however, is what went on behind the scenes, which was even more unusual than anyone could imagine. Inveterate writers, the Benson family spun out novels, essays, and thousands of letters that open stunning new perspectives -- including what it might mean for an adult to kiss and propose marriage to a twelve-year-old girl, how religion in a family could support or destroy relationships, or how the death of a child could be celebrated. No other family has left such detailed records about their most intimate moments, and in these remarkable accounts, we see how family life and a family&#x;s understanding of itself took shape during a time when psychoanalysis, scientific and historical challenges to religion, and new ways of thinking about society were developing. This is the story of the Bensons, but it is also more than that -- it is the story of how society transitioned from the high Victorian period into modernity. (Copac).
600 3 0 _aBenson family.
_9122074
600 1 0 _aBenson, Edward White,
_d1829-1896
_9122075
600 1 0 _aBenson, Mary,
_d1842-1918.
_9122076
600 1 0 _aBenson, Arthur Christopher,
_d1862-1925
_9122077
650 0 _aHomosexuality
_zEngland.
_9122078
651 0 _aEngland
_xIntellectual life
_y19th century.
_979315
651 0 _aEngland
_vBiography.
_977960
942 _2ddc
_cLEN