Dr Douglas Pretsell's Outputs (3)

A Baltic Antinous : queer affirmation in Carl Robert Egells’ Rubi, 1879 (2026)
Book Chapter
Pretsell, D. (in press). A Baltic Antinous : queer affirmation in Carl Robert Egells’ Rubi, 1879. In Rewriting Gender in an Age of Transition, 1880-1940. London: Routledge

This chapter discusses Rubi, by Carl Robert Egells, a historically important novella published in 1879. Rubi contains a self-affirming narrative of same-sex attraction, ahead of its time in German literature. Set on the Baltic coast, the novella expl... Read More about A Baltic Antinous : queer affirmation in Carl Robert Egells’ Rubi, 1879.

The Crucible of Sexual Orientation: Sexual theories and identities in nineteenth-century Germany’ (2025)
Book Chapter
Pretsell, D. (in press). The Crucible of Sexual Orientation: Sexual theories and identities in nineteenth-century Germany’. In The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity 1869-1939. New York: Phaidon Press

Late-nineteenth-century Germany was a powerhouse of modern sexual theorization. It was then and there that the various terminologies and parameters of the sexual categories we have today started to be negotiated and described. In the 1860s, the Hano... Read More about The Crucible of Sexual Orientation: Sexual theories and identities in nineteenth-century Germany’.

Eine Urning-Charaktertypologie [An 'urning' typology]
Book Chapter
Pretsell, D. (2025). Eine Urning-Charaktertypologie [An 'urning' typology]. In Invictus – Unbesiegt: Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs zum 200. Geburtstag [Invictus - Unconquered: Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs on his 200th birthday] (59-89). (1). Berlin: Männerschwarm Verlag

Book abstract: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, lawyer, sexologist, poet and breeder of silkworms, was an exceptional person of the 19th century. At a time when the church considered "sodomy" a sin and the state considered "unnatural fornication" a crime, he m... Read More about Eine Urning-Charaktertypologie [An 'urning' typology].