Francis King

Only Connect

Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love

By

Verso 565pp £24.99 order from our bookshop

Like his near-contemporaries Marie Stopes, Havelock Ellis and the Pankhursts, Edward Carpenter (1844–1929) was one of those characters who changed the society of their times far more effectively than people endowed with infinitely more intellectual, creative or political resources. Although he concerned himself with a bewildering variety of good causes, political movements and fads (animal rights, vegetarianism, the emancipation of women, socialism, nude swimming, clean air, oriental mysticism, recycling of clothes, the wearing of sandals), he should, in my view, be chiefly honoured for the way in which he helped heterosexuals to understand and accept homosexuals and, no less importantly, homosexuals to understand and accept themselves.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'Her favourite design included a body in the shape of a horse, with a steam engine inside ... The passenger would t… ,
    • Sign up to our email newsletter below! Get free articles, highlights from the archive, and chances to win theatre… ,
    • RT : Founded in 1979, is a trusted independent source for reviews of new books across a variety of genres. A… ,
    • RT : Here we are - "Shelf Indulgence" by Ed Potten, a wonderful read, well worth your time: @Lit_Review,
    • 'Like going to a party hoping to get away as quickly as politeness allowed and at 4am finding myself still engrosse… ,
    • 'Neville never shed his sense of being the junior, and perhaps least-deserving Chamberlain.' From the archive, Mic… ,
    • 'The erecting and immediate destruction of a series of straw men rather detracts from what is for the most part an… ,
    Follow Us