|
Dewey Decimal Number: 323.4420973 EAN: 9780807824351 ISBN: 0807824356 Label: University of North Carolina Press Manufacturer: University of North Carolina Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 270 Publication Date: 1998-02 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press Studio: University of North Carolina Press Editorial Review: Product Description: Focusing on the representation of same-sex desire in Victorian autobiographical writing, Oliver Buckton offers readings of works by influential figures in late-19th-century literature and culture. Combining research, historical analysis, and contemporary theories of autobiography, gender and sexual identity, he provides studies of confessional narratives by Edward Carpenter, John Henry Newman, John Addington Symonds, Oscar Wilde, and, in an epilogue, E.M. Forster. By examining the 'confessional' elements of these writings, Buckton brings 'secrecy' into focus as a central and productive component of autobiographical discourse. He challenges the view of secrecy as the suppression of information, instead using the term to suggest an oscillation between authorial self-disclosure and silence or reserve - a strategy for arousing the reader's interest and establishing a relation based on shared knowledge while deferring or displacing the revelation of potentially incriminating and scandalous desires. Though their disclosures of same-sex desire jeopardized the cultural privilege granted these writers by Victorian codes of authorship and masculinity, their use of secrecy, Buckton shows, allowed them to protect themselves from Victorian stigma and to challenge prevailing constructions of sexual identity. Amazon.com Review: Those Victorians. For decades the prevailing presumption was that mid- to late-19th-century British sexuality was completely repressed, or at least hidden by shame-filled secrecy. Then, in the 1960s, historians began understanding the complexity and often shocking blatancy of Victorian eroticism. In Secret Selves: Confession and Same-Sex Desire in Victorian Autobiography, Oliver S. Buckton argues that literary 'secrecy'--the very act of holding back information in a novel or memoir--was a primary and provocative indicator of Victorian homosexuality. Examining confessional writings by Edward Carpenter (whom many consider the moral and political forefather of the gay movement), John Henry Cardinal Newman, John Addington Symonds, and Oscar Wilde, Buckton discovers that all of them say a great deal more than they seem to by quite consciously saying much less. While Buckton's logic feels, at first, counterintuitive, it is ultimately extraordinarily convincing. His chapters on Carpenter and Symonds are strong, though a little predictable; his exegesis of Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua is stunning; and his scanning of Oscar Wilde's work--particularly the already much-analyzed The Importance of Being Ernest and The Picture of Dorian Gray--is original and constantly surprising. Secret Selves promises new, invigorating thinking about gay writing and history, and it delivers in full. --Michael Bronski Average Rating:
 Rating: - Victorian Era...as it is...not as perceived...Bravo to Oliver Buckton for unmasking the stuffy conventions of Victorian life and revealing the true erotic nature of this seemingly reserved society. Dr. Buckton, with a bit of wit and wry humor offers up to the the reader the unmasking of such writers as Forster and Carpenter, yet it is his nonjudgemental style and flair for literary analysis that makes this book a better read then most others on this subject. He makes no apology for his subject matter, and if anything, this is his confessional too as he purges the findings of his research allowing conventional readers to peep into an erotic world without fear of shame. I feel any English major would benefit greatly from this book and certainly would shake up their professors with these stunning concepts....A must for the Grad student! |
Sales of semiconductors in November indicate that consumer products such as LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs, digital music players, and other devices sold well during the holidays, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said Monday.
November chip sales rose 2.3 percent year-on-year to $23.1 billion, the SIA said.
Unit demand has far outpaced last year. But falling chip prices have hurt industry revenue, the chip association said. For example, DRAM (dynamic RAM) bit shipments grew 25 percent in the three months through mid-December, but average selling prices have declined 20 percent over the same period.
The association also noted that rising energy prices and concerns about the sub-prime lending issue in the U.S. do not appear to have had a significant impact on consumer spending for the holidays, the SIA said. The group reiterated its forecast that worldwide semiconductor sales will reach a new record in 2007. But it will take a stronger than expected December selling season to reach the 3.8 percent growth goal the group had forecast earlier this year, the SIA said.
Investment banking firm Credit Suisse was not as optimistic as the SIA.
The November data was below normal seasonal trends, noted analyst John Pitzer, in a report on Monday. Even if December reaches its normal seasonal growth, 2007 industry revenue will only reach $255.7 billion, up 3.2 percent over last year. The growth percentage would fall short of the SIA's 3.8 percent target.
The slow November prompted Credit Suisse to lower its 2008 chip industry revenue forecast to 9.4 percent year-on-year growth, down from a previous target of 13 percent.
