Primitive Marriage: Victorian Anthropology, the Novel, and Sexual Modernity

Primitive Marriage: Victorian Anthropology, the Novel, and Sexual Modernity explores how anthropology's foundational ideas influenced late-Victorian novelists and social scientists to reexamine heterosexual romance by referencing a new kind of history. This transformation of politics into sexual politics centered sexuality and gender in liberal stories of progress, and the theorists and novelists who engaged them helped produce sexually modern subjects and theories that we still draw upon today.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 03 April 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Marriage, a timeless theme in literature, faces a unique challenge when another genre of writing encroaches upon its traditional territory. In Primitive Marriage: Victorian Anthropology, the Novel, and Sexual Modernity, author Elizabeth A. Wilson explores the profound impact of the emerging discipline of anthropology on late-Victorian novelists and social scientists. By drawing upon a new historical perspective, one that temporalizes marriage systems, sexual behavior, and reproductive practices, these scholars and writers sought to reimagine heterosexual romance. This shift in perspective led to a reevaluation of modernity in sexual terms, placing sexuality and gender at the forefront of liberal narratives of progress.

The Victorian theorists who played a pivotal role in this transformation, ranging from renowned figures like Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud to lesser-known writers like John McLennan and Henry Maine, collaborated with novelists such as Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, Henry James, Sarah Grand, H. Rider Haggard, and Thomas Hardy. Their works not only introduced sexually modern subjects but also shaped the theories about sexuality, time, and politics that continue to inform our understanding of modernity today.

Through meticulous research and analysis, Wilson sheds light on the ways in which anthropology influenced the writing of Victorian novels. She demonstrates how these writers used anthropological concepts to challenge prevailing societal norms and explore the complexities of human relationships. By examining the historical context in which these novels were produced, Wilson reveals how anthropology provided a framework for understanding the evolution of marriage, sexuality, and gender and how these changes shaped the cultural landscape of the Victorian era.

Primitive Marriage: Victorian Anthropology, the Novel, and Sexual Modernity is a groundbreaking work that offers a fresh perspective on the intersection of literature, anthropology, and sexuality in the Victorian era. It challenges readers to reconsider the traditional narratives of modernity and reveals the profound impact of the new discipline of anthropology on the development of sexual politics and the understanding of sexuality in modern society.

Weight: 546g
Dimension: 241 x 163 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192863720