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The dark angel: Aspects of Victorian sexuality
Book by Harrison, Fraser
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 26, 2025
Wow, I'm the ONLY dude on Goodreads to have read this book! Mr. Harrison still appears to be quite alive. So I hope he will forgive me for my honesty. This is not quite the all-encompassing book on Victorian sexuality that I hoped it would be -- in large part because Harrison is too academic and too unfocused in his studies. He has divided this book into three sections -- the first, which ostensibly deals with "middle-class sexuality" is the best, even though Harrison's interrogation of the contradictions within paintings of chemises draping down the shoulder of cherubs (specifically, the "art" of Charles Baxter, not to be confused with the novelist) is far more cogent than how these people lived. He is not as good with prostitution. He is merely competent with working-class sexuality. I think Francoise Barret-Ducroq's LOVE IN THE TIME OF VICTORIA is a better (and better sourced) book on the subject of how prudes fucked back in the day. Another key takeaway is how working-class people were more sexually liberated by way of premarital sex being considered more "vulgar" by the prim and proper (who were likely more "improper" in the boudoir).
Merged review:
This is not quite the all-encompassing book on Victorian sexuality that I hoped it would be -- in large part because Harrison is too academic and too unfocused in his studies. He has divided this book into three sections -- the first, which ostensibly deals with "middle-class sexuality" is the best, even though Harrison's interrogation of the contradictions within paintings of chemises draping down the shoulder of cherubs (specifically, the "art" of Charles Baxter, not to be confused with the novelist) is far more cogent than how these people lived. He is not as good with prostitution. He is merely competent with working-class sexuality. I think Francoise Barret-Ducroq's LOVE IN THE TIME OF VICTORIA is a better (and better sourced) book on the subject of how prudes fucked back in the day. Another key takeaway is how working-class people were more sexually liberated by way of premarital sex being considered more "vulgar" by the prim and proper (who were likely more "improper" in the boudoir)
Merged review:
This is not quite the all-encompassing book on Victorian sexuality that I hoped it would be -- in large part because Harrison is too academic and too unfocused in his studies. He has divided this book into three sections -- the first, which ostensibly deals with "middle-class sexuality" is the best, even though Harrison's interrogation of the contradictions within paintings of chemises draping down the shoulder of cherubs (specifically, the "art" of Charles Baxter, not to be confused with the novelist) is far more cogent than how these people lived. He is not as good with prostitution. He is merely competent with working-class sexuality. I think Francoise Barret-Ducroq's LOVE IN THE TIME OF VICTORIA is a better (and better sourced) book on the subject of how prudes fucked back in the day. Another key takeaway is how working-class people were more sexually liberated by way of premarital sex being considered more "vulgar" by the prim and proper (who were likely more "improper" in the boudoir)
Displaying 1 of 1 review