A Problem in Modern Ethics

In this work, Symonds argues against KrafftEbings’ belief that homosexuality is acquired. The volumes contents include an historical survey of homosexuality, various modern theories as to its cause, and a concluding section dealing with suggested amendments in legislation. Considered a major classic in field, Symonds’ analysis of homosexuality with some religious relevance also contains a chapter on the very sensitive subject of Walt Whitman and homosexuality, which is the earliest serious study of the subject.

Poet, essayist, and literary historian, John Addington Symonds (18401893) delved into every field of the humanities, writing the celebrated Renaissance in Italy and publishing translations of the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini and the Sonnets of Michelangelo and Campanella; he wrote biographies of Shelley, Sidney, Jonson, and Whitman, and collaborated with Havelock Ellis on a number of projects in sexology. He is remembered for his untiring efforts to loosen the restraints on homosexuals in England, and his Memoirs are the only diary of a Victorian homosexual of his stature.