Heroes And Exiles- Gay Icons Through The Ages

Product Description

Demonised by the Church throughout the Middle Ages & theandnbsp; Renaissance, homosexuals became the scapegoats of society, andnbsp; constantly facing exile or a brutal death. In Heroes & Exiles theandnbsp; human cost of this long exile is told through the lives of the mostandnbsp; eminent homosexual men & women in history. Some were artistsandnbsp; like the wild living Benvenuto Cellini or the repressed Edward Lear.andnbsp; Others were poets such as Thomas Gray, W. H. Auden or novelistsandnbsp; such as Henry James & A. J. Symonds.andnbsp; andnbsp; Their places of refuge changed through the centuries from Italy inandnbsp; the 18th, to Paris in the 19th & Berlin, California & Tangier inandnbsp; the 20th. Some experiences were tragic, like those of Williamandnbsp; Beckford, Lord Byron or Oscar Wilde, & some were triumphant, andnbsp; like the remarkable story of the Ladies of Llangollen who becameandnbsp; the most famous lesbians in Europe.andnbsp; andnbsp; Often treated with outright suspicion, homosexuals were targets forandnbsp; the totalitarian dictatorships of the 20th century. As such theyandnbsp; were consigned in their tens of thousands to exile in Siberia or toandnbsp; the Nazi death camps. Even when peace returned after World Warandnbsp; II most democracies still proscribed homosexual behaviour, forcingandnbsp; the Americans Paul Bowles & James Baldwin to seek exile inandnbsp; Europe & North Africa. Today the tolerance of Ancient Greece hasandnbsp; returned to most Western societies although homosexuals are stillandnbsp; persecuted in some Islamic countries such as Iran. In Heroes andandnbsp; Exiles, Tom Ambrose asks if we have finally realised that sexualandnbsp; orientation is as irrelevant to character & achievement as genderandnbsp; and skin colour & if the long exile has ended.andnbsp; andnbsp;