Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

The Correspondence of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, 1846-1894

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Douglas Ogilvy Pretsell

    1. La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Offers the first critical edition of the complete correspondence of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, a founding figure in the history of sexuality
  • Utilises extensive archival sources, critically analysing hundreds of documents spanning Ulrichs's life
  • Argues that Ulrichs was part of a wider community-led project that promoted self-definition

Part of the book series: Genders and Sexualities in History (GSX)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (4 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Douglas Ogilvy Pretsell
    Pages 1-43

  3. The

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 45-46
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Before the Activism, 1846–1862

      • Douglas Ogilvy Pretsell
      Pages 47-140

    3. Main Years of Activism, 1863–1869

      • Douglas Ogilvy Pretsell
      Pages 141-227

    4. Final Years, 1870–1894

      • Douglas Ogilvy Pretsell
      Pages 229-262

  4. Back Matter

    Pages 263-269
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book will be the first critical edition of all the surviving correspondence to, from and about Karl Heinrich Ulrichs between 1846 and 1894. Ulrichs, a former Hanoverian lawyer, was the first to articulate a personal identity of sexuality that defined individuals by their sexual object. This articulation of sexual modernist identities is Ulrichs’ abiding legacy to the world. He wrote twelve short books between 1864 and 1879, arguing for the removal of laws and prejudice against 'urnings' and articulating a scientific theory that placed them as a third gender. He is a foundational figure in the history of sexuality, yet there has never been an edition of his complete correspondence in either English or the original German. 

The correspondence between the years of 1846 and 1894 covers three definable periods: the years before Ulrichs began writing (1846-1864); the years between which all his principle works, his lobbying and all his activism took place (1865-1879); and his final years in exile (1880-1895). The analysis will contend that the correspondence reveals that Ulrichs’ project was not just a lonely campaign against legal prohibition of the 'hydra of public contempt', but instead was part of a far wider campaign of community-led self-definition that was actively promoted at home and abroad. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

    Douglas Ogilvy Pretsell

About the author

Douglas Pretsell is a researcher in the Department of History at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, where his focus is on the correspondence of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895). With previous research experience in Psychology and Neuroscience, Douglas brings afresh perspective to a man who was to influence the very earliest sexual science in Germany.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation