Rictor Norton

Passions

Vocation

Traits

American writer and educator. Cultural historian Rictor Norton taught one of the earliest courses on gay and lesbian literature (Florida State University, 1971) and co-edited the first all-gay issue of an academic journal (College English, 1974). After studying the Gothic literary tradition at Florida University he completed his Ph.D. there in 1973 with a dissertation on Renaissance homosexual literature. Then immigrating to London, he worked full-time at Gay News, 1974-79. Norton has written many articles on the Gothic novel and gay history & literature, and has contributed biographies of several Georgian and Victorian figures to the New Dictionary of National Biography. His website (www.infopt.demon.co.uk) includes "A History of Homoerotica" section with essays on pornography, Aleister Crowley, beefcake photography, bawdy limericks and Uranian poetry. His five books are "Gothic Readings: The First Wave, 1764-1840" 2000, an anthology of Gothic literature, set within the context of contemporary criticism and readers' responses; "Mistress of Udolpho: The Life of Ann Radcliffe" 1999, the first full-scale biography of the famous Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) who authored "The Mysteries of Udolpho" 1794, the world's first best-seller; "Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England, 1700 - 1830" 1992, a pioneering historical study and the first comprehensive chronicle of the English gay community at its 18th-century roots; "My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries" 1997, an anthology of correspondence documenting romances between men over almost 2000 years; and "The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity" 1997, that rejects claims that "the homosexual" was invented in modern times. Link to Wikipedia biography