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Product Description
Demonised by the Church throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, homosexuals became the scapegoats of society, constantly facing exile or a brutal death. In "Heroes to Exiles", the human cost of this long exile is told through the lives of the most eminent homosexual men and women in history. Some were artists like the wild living Benvenuto Cellini or the repressed Edward Lear. Others were poets such as Thomas Gray, W. H. Auden or novelists such as Henry James and A. J. Symonds. Their places of refuge changed through the centuries from Italy in the 18th, to Paris in the 19th and Berlin, California and Tangier in the 20th. Some experiences were tragic, like those of William Beckford, Lord Byron or Oscar Wilde, and some were triumphant, like the remarkable story of the Ladies of Llangollen who became the most famous lesbians in Europe. Often treated with outright suspicion, homosexuals were targets for the totalitarian dictatorships of the 20th century. As such they were consigned in their tens of thousands to exile in Siberia or to the Nazi death camps. Even when peace returned after World War II most democracies still proscribed homosexual behaviour, forcing the Americans Paul Bowles and James Baldwin to seek exile in Europe and North Africa. Today the tolerance of Ancient Greece has returned to most Western societies although homosexuals are still persecuted in some Islamic countries such as Iran. In "Heroes to Exiles", Tom Ambrose asks if we have finally realised that sexual orientation is as irrelevant to character and achievement as gender and skin colour and if the long exile has ended.
About the Author
Tom Ambrose read history at Trinity College Dublin and gained a postgraduate degree at University College London. His recent books include The Nature of Despotism: From Caligula to Mugabe, the Making of Tyrants (2008), Godfather of the Revolution (2008), the first English biography of Philippe Egalite, Duke of Orleans and Prinny and His Pals (2009), a re-evaluation of the character of King George IV through his many friendships with artists, writers and politicians.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tom Ambrose's book reads well, providing a brief if selective history of attitudes to and treatment of gays from the Greeks to the present day. Understandably, he concentrates mostly on the 'Modern' ( i.e. post-medieval) period, which is generally well-researched, with an excellent bibliography.The book starts (briefly) with the Greek/ Roman periods, moving on to the medieval church /Renaissance/Reformation attitudes to the subject, though with a distinct European history bias - neither Shakespeare's sonnets nor Christopher Marlowe get a single mention, though Marlowe's Edward II was the first - and still one of the best - plays with homosexuals at its centre - whereas some pretty obscure French poets are covered.
The book takes fire however once he begins to deal with key figures from the 17th century onward, and indeed his narrative is largely through a selection of portraits in their historical contexts - Queen Christina of Sweden, William Beckford, the Ladies of Langollen, Lord Byron and so on through Oscar Wilde, Auden and Isherwood and on to James Baldwin. However, many may find Ambrose's choice of 'iconic' figures predictable, at times dubious and lacking in balance. A whole chapter for example - 14 pages- is given to that social parasite / religious nut 'Baron Corvo' with his unreadable prose. Isherwood, Auden and others in the Chapter 'From Europe to the United States', are given but four pages, and moreover the book contains not a single reference to Quentin Crisp's The Naked Civil Servant.
The book as a whole could and should perhaps have raised the question of What is a gay icon? and Who should be a gay icon? but leaves such interesting questions largely unexplored.
The last chapter is the most interesting - about gays in the Arab world and Africa - surely the most urgent present/ future battleground for the movement. Here I would have liked a more detailed treatment, and a more realistic assessment. The chapter should at least have a question mark after its title,The End of Exile, its conclusions ( and those of the book therefore) being to my mind historically naive.
The book takes fire however once he begins to deal with key figures from the 17th century onward, and indeed his narrative is largely through a selection of portraits in their historical contexts - Queen Christina of Sweden, William Beckford, the Ladies of Langollen, Lord Byron and so on through Oscar Wilde, Auden and Isherwood and on to James Baldwin. However, many may find Ambrose's choice of 'iconic' figures predictable, at times dubious and lacking in balance. A whole chapter for example - 14 pages- is given to that social parasite / religious nut 'Baron Corvo' with his unreadable prose. Isherwood, Auden and others in the Chapter 'From Europe to the United States', are given but four pages, and moreover the book contains not a single reference to Quentin Crisp's The Naked Civil Servant.
The book as a whole could and should perhaps have raised the question of What is a gay icon? and Who should be a gay icon? but leaves such interesting questions largely unexplored.
The last chapter is the most interesting - about gays in the Arab world and Africa - surely the most urgent present/ future battleground for the movement. Here I would have liked a more detailed treatment, and a more realistic assessment. The chapter should at least have a question mark after its title,The End of Exile, its conclusions ( and those of the book therefore) being to my mind historically naive.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Quickly delivered and in good condition. Complicated at first but overall a very good read. It deals with the conditioning of a lot of famous gay men and women. It pulls no punches and avoids no facts about them. Well worth buying and absorbing whether you are gay or not as it sheds great light on the subject.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
Enlightening
7 Dec 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This slim book surely doesn't account for all those who left their homeland to live where they could express themselves more openly or without harassment. However, some blossomed in their writings and art and became who they are to the rest of us. The others probably stayed and became citizens of where they landed and enjoyed being with their fellow expatriots. What a loss for America!
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