Highfunctioningsociopath

gothic literature character apologists are such a strange breed of person… like imagine being confronted with a piece of literature that forces you to contend with the fact that horrible, awful people can be victims and suffer too, and you go “but consider this: they’re victims, and they suffer, therefore the author was blaming them for things they didn’t do when they described them commit unforgivable crimes” god it must feel great having cotton for brains huh

a twink is essential to a captivating piece of literature

it drives me bonkers the way people don't know how to read classic books in context anymore. i just read a review of the picture of dorian gray that said "it pains me that the homosexual subtext is just that, a subtext, rather than a fully explored part of the narrative." and now i fully want to put my head through a table. first of all, we are so lucky in the 21st century to have an entire category of books that are able to loudly and lovingly declare their queerness that we've become blind to the idea that queerness can exist in a different language than our contemporary mode of communication. second it IS a fully explored part of the narrative! dorian gray IS a textually queer story, even removed from the context of its writing. it's the story of toxic queer relationships and attraction and dangerous scandals and the intertwining of late 19th century "uranianism" and misogyny. second of all, i'm sorry that oscar wilde didn't include 15k words of graphic gay sex with ao3-style tags in his 1890 novel that was literally used to convict him of indecent behaviour. get well soon, i guess...

Friendly reminder that Bram Stoker married Oscar Wilde's ex who rejected Wilde's offer of marriage (Florence Stoker what a slay) and also Bram Stoker wrote a love letter to Walt Whitman and also Oscar Wilde probably slept with Walt Whitman (the interviews are horrifying) and Wilde's meeting with the publisher that led to Picture of Dorian Gray being written was actually a meeting along with Arthur Conan Doyle for writing Sign of Four (Doyle called meeting Oscar Wilde "that golden day" and they both wrote to congratulate each other and praise the books) and--

Guys, Netflix is going to make a modern day adaptation of Dorian Gray and they're making Basil and Dorian brothers

I can’t let them find out about the portrait in my attic

Unfortunately it is very common 'round these parts

@victorian-yaoi

AAH!