{"product_id":"cecil-dreeme-9781479855292","title":"Cecil Dreeme","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA curious gem of 19th-century gothic fiction\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eCecil Dreeme\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the queerest American novels of the 19th century. This edition, which includes a new introduction contextualizing the sexual history of the period and queer longings of the book, brings a rare, almost forgotten, sensational gothic novel set in New York's West Village back to light. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePublished posthumously in 1861, the novel centers on Robert Byng, a young man who moves back to New York after traveling abroad and finds himself unmarried and underemployed, adrift in the heathenish dens of lower Manhattan. When he takes up rooms in \"Chrysalis College\"--a thinly veiled version of the 19th-century New York University building in Washington Square--he quickly finds himself infatuated with a young painter lodging there, named Cecil Dreeme. As their friendship grows and the novel unfolds against the backdrop of the bohemian West Village, Robert confesses that he \"loves Cecil with a love passing the love of women.\" Yet, there are dark forces at work in the form of the sinister and magnetic Densdeth, a charismatic figure of bad intention, who seeks to ensnare Robert for his own. Full of romantic entanglements, mistaken identity, blackmail, and the dramas of temptation and submission, Cecil Dreeme is a gothic novel at its finest. Poetically written--with flashes of Walt Whitman, Charles Dickens, and Oscar Wilde--\u003ci\u003eCecil Dreeme\u003c\/i\u003e is an early example of that rare bird, a queer novel from the 19th century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Theodore Winthrop\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Washington Mews Books\/Nyu Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/26\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.85lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781479855292\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWinthrop, Theodore:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eTheodore Winthrop\u003c\/b\u003e (1828-1861) was a lawyer, writer, and world traveler. Cecil Dreeme is a semi-autobiographical novel, set in Washington Square and at the New York University Building where Winthrop had once been a lodger. He is also the author of the novels John Brent and Edwin Brothertoft and the travel narratives The Canoe and the Saddle and Life in the Open Air.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCoviello, Peter:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003ePeter Coviello\u003c\/b\u003e is Department Head and Professor of English at the University of Illinois Chicago. He is the author of five books, including \u003ci\u003eMake Yourselves Gods: Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American Secularism\u003c\/i\u003e (UChicago Press, 2019) and \u003ci\u003eTomorrow's Parties\u003c\/i\u003e (NYU, 2013). His work \u003ci\u003eIs There God After Prince? \u003c\/i\u003eis forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press in 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Washington Mews Books\/Nyu Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":66875213906035,"sku":"9781479855292","price":24.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/files\/img_d02e5ebc-9abc-4be3-b1b3-6f917579e4b8.jpg?v=1792081057","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/cecil-dreeme-9781479855292","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}