Edward Carpenter  (1844 - 1929)

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Love's Coming-of-Age: A Series of Papers on the Relations of the Sexes (1912) by Edward Carpenter

Sex Passion; Man, the Ungrown; Woman, the Serf; Woman in Freedom; Marriage: A Retrospect; Marriage: A Forecast; Free Society; Some Remarks on the Early Star & Sex Worships; Primitive Group Marriage; Jealousy; Family; Preventive Checks to Population.

Intermediate Sex (1912) by Edward Carpenter

A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men & Women. Contents: Intermediate Sex; Homogenic Attachment; Affection in Education; Place of the Uranian in Society.
  






Pagan & Christian Creeds : Their Origin and Meaning by Edward Carpenter

Solar Myths and Christian Festivals; The Symbolism of the Zodiac; Totem-Sacraments and Eucharists; Food and Vegetation Magic; Magicians, Kings and Gods; Rites of Expiation and Redemption; Pagan Initiations and the Second Birth; Myth of the Golden Age; The Saviour-God and the Virgin-Mother; Ritual Dancing; The Sex-Taboo; The Genesis of Christianity; The Meaning of it All; The Ancient Mysteries; The Exodus of Christianity; Conclusion; Appendix on the Teachings of the Upanishads: Rest; The Nature of the Self.

Days with Walt Whitman with Some Notes on His Life and Work by Edward Carpenter

A Visit to Walt Whitman in 1877; Walt Whitman in 1884; Notes and Appreciation; Whitman as a Prophet; Appendix to Whitman as Prophet; The Poetic form of Leaves of Grass ; Walt Whitman s Children; Whitman and Emerson.

"British author Edward Carpenter was ahead of his time in many ways-- he was a feminist, a socialist reformer, and an outspoken homosexual in a time when none of these things were particularly popular. Unfortunately, his work has gradually disappeared from public view since his death in 1929. His friendship with Whitman is an important piece in studying the American poet." -- Anonymous Review

Edward Carpenter (1844-1929)

WRITER, SOCIOPOLITICAL THEORIST

Born in England, the son of an Anglican clergyman, Carpenter also was ordained a priest and for a time served as a curate at Cambridge. But, his increasing interest in feminism and socialism and attraction to men led him to renounce his ordination in 1874.

Following a correspondence with poet Walt Whitman, Carpenter visited him in the United States in 1877. At this time he began to develop an erotic, political and aesthetic vision of his own in the poem Toward Democracy. With 1896’s Love's Coming of Age which developed more deeply the utopian and feminist aspects of his philosophy he made his public debut as a leader of the sexual emancipation movement. Carpenter is credited with being one of the first public figures to assert that same-sex love was natural, wholesome and made a positive contribution to society. He would also go on to claim that gay men were superior to “normal men” because people capable “homogenic” love had the positive qualities of both sexes.

In 1891 Carpenter met George Merrill on a train trip, the two were instantly drawn to each other and remained lovers until Merrill’s death in 1928. Their relationship was one of the inspirations for Maurice by E.M. Forster, who was a friend of the couple.

Other writings by Carpenter include the books Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship and Intermediate Types Among Primitive Folk.

Names Index:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Authors Index | Scholars Index |