Victorian Literature, Queer Longing and the Shore, 1840–1920

This book studies how writers, artists and scientists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries thought about queerness through encounters at the water’s edge. Authors in this period witnessed dramatic and destructive changes to shorelines, including those caused by industrial pollution, the commercialisation of waterways and the rise of seaside tourism. Through an analysis of literary, cultural and visual texts, the book unearths a strand of ecological desire that merges better stewardship of the waters with an affirmation of sexual and gender diversity. It puts queer and feminist approaches in conversation with coastal studies and the blue humanities, and centres moments of multispecies joy.