Focusing on "Boys' Own" literature, "Empire Boys" examines how and why a distinct type of combative masculinity triumphed during the heyday of the British Empire. This book reveals the motives that produced this obsessive focus on boyhood. In Victorian Britain many kinds of writing, from the popular juvenile weeklies to parliamentary reports, celebrated boys of all classes as the heroes of their day. Fighting fit, morally upright, and proudly patriotic - these adventurous young men were set forth on imperial missions, civilizing a savage world. Such noble heroes included the strapping lads who brought an end to cannibalism on Ballantyne's "Coral Island" who came into their own in the highly respectable "Boys' Own Paper", and who eventually grew up into the men of Haggard's romances, advancing into the Dark Continent. Joseph Bristow demonstrates why these young heroes have enjoyed a lasting appeal to readers of children's classics by Stevenson, Kipling and Henty, among many others. He shows why the political intent of many of these stories has been obscured by traditional literary criticism, a form of criticism itself moulded by ideals of empire and "Englishness". Throughout, imperial boyhood is related to wide-ranging debates about culture, literacy, realism and romance. A contribution to the study of children's fiction. "Empire Boys" aims to be of interest to students of literature, social history and education.

Empire Boys: Adventures in a Man's World (Reading Popular Fiction)

Bristow, Joseph

Children's Books

Unwin Hyman

In Oscar Wilde’s Chatterton, Joseph Bristow and Rebecca N. Mitchell explore Wilde’s fascination with the eighteenth-century forger Thomas Chatterton, who tragically took his life at the age of seventeen. This innovative study combines a scholarly monograph with a textual edition of the extensive notes that Wilde took on the brilliant forger who inspired not only Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Keats but also Victorian artists and authors. Bristow and Mitchell argue that Wilde’s substantial “Chatterton” notebook, which previous scholars have deemed a work of plagiarism, is central to his development as a gifted writer of criticism, drama, fiction, and poetry. This volume, which covers the whole span of Wilde’s career, reveals that his research on Chatterton informs his deepest engagements with Romanticism, plagiarism, and forgery, especially in later works such as “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.,” The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Grounded in painstaking archival research that draws on previously undiscovered sources, Oscar Wilde’s Chatterton explains why, in Wilde’s personal canon of great writers (which included such figures as Charles Baudelaire, Gustave Flaubert, Théophile Gautier, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti), Chatterton stood as an equal in this most distinguished company.

Oscar Wilde's Chatterton: Literary History, Romanticism, and the Art of Forgery

Biographies & Memoirs

Mitchell, Rebecca N.

Arts & Literature

Yale University Press

The most authoritative account of a pivotal event in legal and cultural history: the trials of Oscar Wilde on charges of “gross indecency”\nAmong the most infamous prosecutions of a literary figure in history, the two trials of Oscar Wilde for committing acts of “gross indecency” occurred at the height of his fame. After being found guilty, Wilde spent two years in prison, emerged bankrupt, and died in a cheap hotel room in Paris a few years after his release. The trials prompted a new intolerance toward homosexuality: habits of male bonding that were previously seen as innocent were now viewed as a threat, and an association grew in the public mind between gay men and the arts.\nOscar Wilde on Trial assembles accounts from a variety of sources, including official and private letters, newspaper accounts, and previously published (but very incomplete) transcripts, to provide the most accurate and authoritative account to date of events that were pivotal in both legal and cultural history.

Oscar Wilde on Trial: The Criminal Proceedings, from Arrest to Imprisonment (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference)

Gay and Lesbian Studies, Homosexuality, Literary Studies

Sexual Sameness: Textual Difference in Lesbian and Gay Writing

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Routledge

Sexuality (The New Critical Idiom)

A brilliant and readable account of the history of sexuality in critical discourse, providing a context for the subject and an overview of current debates.

Self-Help

Joseph Bristow introduces readers to the most influential contemporary theories of sexual desire and reveals how nineteenth century scientists invented 'sexuality'. This clear and fascinating introductory guide makes complex theoretical ideas accessible to readers of all levels. It explores:  the lasting influence of late-Victorian sexology conflicting accounts of eroticism the place of Freud and Lacan within cultural studies, literary criticism and feminist theory the importance of Bataille, Baudrillard, Cixous, Deleuze, Irigaray and Kristeva the legacy of Michel Foucault in queer theory today postmodern sexual identities, and the contemporary emphasis on erotic diversity.

Theories of sexuality and desire are commonly used in literary and cultural studies. In this illuminating study Joseph Bristow introduces readers to the fundamental critical debates surrounding the topic. This fully updated second edition includes: <ul>
<li>a historical account of sexuality from the Victorians to the present</li> <li>discussions of the most influential theorists including Freud, Lacan, Bataille, Baudrillard, Cixous, Deleuze, Irigaray and Kristeva</li> <li>a new and extended discussion of queer and transgender theory, race, ethnicity and desire</li> <li>a new preface summarising changes in the field since the first edition</li> <li>a new glossary, annotated further reading section and bibliography.</li> </ul> Considering all of the major movements in the field, this new edition is the ideal guide for students of literary and cultural studies.

Sexuality: Global formations past and present (The New Critical Idiom)

The Infernal Desires of Angela Carter: Fiction, Femininity, Feminism (Longman Studies In Twentieth Century Literature)

Drawing on many aspects of contemporary feminist theory, this lively collection of essays assesses Angela Carter's polemical fictions of desire. Carter, renowned for her irreverent wit, was one of the most gifted, subversive, and stylish British writers to emerge in the 1960s.

The Infernal Desires of Angela Carter (Longman Studies In Twentieth Century Literature)

Community & Culture

The Victorian Poet: Poetics and Persona

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Books by Bristow, Joseph

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bristow, Joseph. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Empire Boys: Adventures in a Man's World (Reading Popular Fiction)

Oscar Wilde's Chatterton: Literary History, Romanticism, and the Art of Forgery

Oscar Wilde on Trial: The Criminal Proceedings, from Arrest to Imprisonment (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference)

Sexual Sameness: Textual Difference in Lesbian and Gay Writing

Sexuality (The New Critical Idiom)

Sexuality (The New Critical Idiom)

Sexuality: Global formations past and present (The New Critical Idiom)

Sexuality (The New Critical Idiom)

The Infernal Desires of Angela Carter (Longman Studies In Twentieth Century Literature)

The Victorian Poet: Poetics and Persona