Love Letters Between a Certain Late Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson

by Michael S. Kimmel

Here are 20 love letters and the appended commentaries--provided by some of today's most respected experts in the field of social science and early 18th-century life and letters--chronicling the course of a fictional homosexual relationship between an older lord and his young lover. Fascinating reading for anyone interested in gender, sexuality, deviance, and homosexuality, Love Letters Between a Certain Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson reveals specific practices among gay men, including places of assignation; “camping”; various forms of sex talk; an internal, coded language among gay men; and the intrigue undertaken to avoid discovery. There is also a rare glimpse into the organization and dynamics of the sexual subculture as it existed then. What's more, readers will better understand the larger societal undercurrents such as class relations and urbanization, relationships between men and women, homophobia, sexism, and the development of a gay identity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1723

About the author

Michael Scott Kimmel is an American sociologist, specializing in gender studies. He is among the leading researchers and writers on men and masculinity in the world today. The author or editor of more than twenty volumes, his books include The Politics of Manhood, and The History of Men (2005).

His documentary history, "Against the Tide: Pro-Feminist Men in the United States, 1776-1990" (Beacon, 1992), chronicled men who supported women’s equality since the founding of the country. His book, Manhood in America: A Cultural History (1996) was hailed as the definitive work on the subject. Reviewers called the book "wide-ranging, level headed, human and deeply interesting," "superb...thorough, impressive and fascinating."

His most recent book, Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men (2008) is a best-selling investigation of young people’s lives today, based on interviews with more than 400 young men, ages 16-26. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem said that "Michael Kimmel's Guyland could save the humanity of many young men – and the sanity of their friends and parents."

Kimmel holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in New York, and is a spokesperson of NOMAS (The National Organization For Men Against Sexism).

He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.

Reviews

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a very odd text. It’s really two texts, a queer epistolary romance and then a didactic prose retelling, heavy on the misogyny. I’d really like to know a lot more about the contemporary reception of the book, especially whether it was assumed to be fictional (since it claims not to be). I’m also really interested in the way that the gay relationship is so tied both to the financial and social power of the initiating man, and to cross dressing. Is that usual? What other books are like this one?

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in 1993 and found it intriguing but although the Love Letters still intrigue me I found the accompanying material unconvincing, at times amateurish, wildly conjectural, slipshod, and badly in need of a good edit. If I'd taken a drink every time Rousseau said 'catamite', 'catamitical', or 'sodomitical' I'd have been more than a trifle foxed by the end.