Year in Arcadia: A Shepherd's Calendar

by August von Sachsen-Gotha, Carl Skoggard (Translator)

Year in Arcadia is an unusual book by an unusual author. Duke August Emil Leopold von Sachsen-Gotha (1772-1822), contemporary and acquaintance of Goethe, was the cross-dressing ruler of a miniscule German territory during the Napoleonic Era, and also Queen Victoria's grandfather-in-law. He was known to his subjects as "the Happy." We do not know if Duke August was happy, but his single published work is gay in more ways than one. With its backdrop of classical Greek mythology, this pastoral fable concerning two handsome shepherds who fall in love is among the first homoerotic works in Europe, and is a forgotten treasure of German literature.

Genres: LGBT, Classics, Queer, German Literature

137 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1805

Reviews

[Eavan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rough. Interesting to read as a historical document for gay literature and the small glimmers of trans subtext but man, Duke Augustus could not write. Their biography is much more interesting than any of this though, so check that out if anything.

[Lulu]

1805 the earliest known novel that centers on an explicitly male-male love affair

German https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record...