The Emancipation of the Flesh: The Legacy of Romanticism in the Homosexual Rights Movement

Using the work of Friedrich Schlegel, Karl Gutzkow and Heinrich Hössli, this essay argues that Romantiism, with its glorification of love, desire and sexuality—and also with its endorsement of female love, desire and sexuality—helped pave the way for the emergence of a homosexual community of men who saw themselves as “urnings,” people with male bodies and female souls.

“The Emancipation of the Flesh: The Legacy of Romanticism in the Homosexual Rights Movement,” Romanticism on the Net 36/37 (November 2004), “Queer Romanticism,” ed. by Michael O’Rourke and David Collins. http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/204/v/n36-37/011143.14.html