Houses, Secrets, and the Closet

Houses, Secrets, and the Closet investigates the literary production of masculinities and their relation to secrets and sexualities in 18th- and 19th-century fiction. It focuses on close readings of Gothic and sensation novels, as well as tales by Henry James. The study approaches these texts through the lens of domestic space, gender, knowledge, and power. In this way, the book investigates the cultural roots of the closet - the male homosexual secret - which reveals a more general notion of male secrecy in modern society.