Visions of Queer Martyrdom from John Henry Newman to Derek Jarman

Book excerpt: Dominic Janes is at pains here to highlight the role played by Christianity in the history of homosexuality in Britain. His story deals not merely with genital relations but also with identities both embraced and refused. Necessarily, coded expressions of desire as well as creative blurrings between religious idealism and queer gender and sexuality are integral to Janes s account. A special focus for Janes is the way in which visual images and imaginary visions of suffering in ecclesiastical contexts were used to develop concepts of male same-sex desire that projected the self as dutiful and penitent rather than shameful. And so, a model (and in ways a substitute) for same-sex relationships was readily available in idealizations of the person and body of Christas unmarried queer martyr. Homosexual desires and identities prove to have unfolded in creative dialogue with religion during and since the 19th century. Various figures enter into Janes s history, from Cardinal Newman and Oscar Wilde to artists such as Simeon Solomon and Frederick Rolfe, and the plot thickens with forays into Victorian monasteries that functioned as queer families, with fascinating side trips into Rolfe s Christmas cards as expressions of queer aesthetic/identity. He brings the account full circle with a concluding chapter on the life and works of Derek Jarman. Janes uses this case to show that the experience of the AIDS epidemic led to a reconnection with older modes of queer self-expression specifically concerned with the endurance of suffering. The religious roots of queer creativity are a vital resource for modern churches and openly gay men and women to learn from."