The Seduction of the Mediterranean

Through an explanation of forty figures in European culture, ^The Seduction of the Mediterranean argues that the Mediterranean, classical and contemporary, was the central theme in homoerotic writing and art from the 1750s to the 1950s. Episodes of exile, murder, drug-taking, wild homosexual orgies and court cases are woven into an original study of a significant theme in European culture. The myth of a homoerotic Mediterranean made a major contribution to general attitudes towards Antiquity, the Renaissance and modern Italy and Greece.

Robert Aldrich

Introduction The Mediterranean Obsession 1. Sex and Society in the European Mediterranean: Greek, Roman and Renaissance 2. Winckelmann and Platen 3. Englishmen in Southern Europe 4. Following in the Footsteps 5. Mediterranean Men in Art and Photography 6. The Social and Historical Context 7. Contemporary Echoes Conclusion The Birth and Near Death of a Gay Myth