This original and provocative 2001 study discusses the work of a number of authors in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in order to argue that mainstream society was enabled to accept the non-normative sexuality of the Aesthetic Movement chiefly through parody and self-parody. Highlighting Victorian popular culture, Aestheticism and Sexual Parody adds an important dimension to the theorisations of parody as a combative strategy by which sexually marginalized groups undermine the status quo. From W. S. Gilbert's drama and Vernon Lee and Christopher Isherwood's prose to George du Maurier's cartoons and Max Beerbohm's caricatures, Dennis Denisoff explores the parodies' interactions with the personae and texts of canonical authors such as Alfred Tennyson, Walter Pater, Algernon Swinburne, and Oscar Wilde. In doing so, he considers the impact that these interactions had on modern ideas of gender, sexuality, taste and politics.

This 2001 book studies the concept of parody as a strategy used by sexually marginalized groups.

About the Author
Dennis Denisoff is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Ryerson Polytechnic University.

Reviews
"...it offer[s] an important interpretation of the data...This complex working of 'high' and 'low' cultures to widen social sympathies is an original contribution to our understanding of aesthetics." English Literature in Transition



Book Information
ISBN 9780521024891
Author Dennis Denisoff
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 327g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 152mm * 15mm