Cecil Dreeme A Novel
Cecil Dreeme A Novel by Theodore Winthrop is a reprint edition published by NYU Press on April 26, 2016, featuring 265 pages in English. This 19th-century gothic fiction presents a unique narrative that explores themes of love and identity through the experiences of Robert Byng, a young man returning to New York after time abroad. Set against the backdrop of the West Village, the story delves into Robert’s infatuation with the painter Cecil Dreeme, as well as the darker elements introduced by the enigmatic Densdeth.
Readers will find a rich tapestry of romantic entanglements, mistaken identities, and the complexities of desire woven throughout the novel. The narrative captures the bohemian spirit of the era while addressing LGBTQ+ themes and the societal challenges of the time. With its poetic prose reminiscent of literary figures like Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde, Cecil Dreeme offers an insightful glimpse into the queer experience of the 19th century, making it a significant addition to the canon of classic literature.
Official synopsis Publisher
A curious gem of 19th-century gothic fiction
Cecil Dreeme is one of the queerest American novels of the 19th century. This edition, which includes a new introduction contextualizing the sexual history of the period and queer longings of the book, brings a rare, almost forgotten, sensational gothic novel set in New York’s West Village back to light.
Published posthumously in 1861, the novel centers on Robert Byng, a young man who moves back to New York after traveling abroad and finds himself unmarried and underemployed, adrift in the heathenish dens of lower Manhattan. When he takes up rooms in “Chrysalis College”—a thinly veiled version of the 19th-century New York University building in Washington Square—he quickly finds himself infatuated with a young painter lodging there, named Cecil Dreeme. As their friendship grows and the novel unfolds against the backdrop of the bohemian West Village, Robert confesses that he “loves Cecil with a love passing the love of women.” Yet, there are dark forces at work in the form of the sinister and magnetic Densdeth, a charismatic figure of bad intention, who seeks to ensnare Robert for his own. Full of romantic entanglements, mistaken identity, blackmail, and the dramas of temptation and submission, Cecil Dreeme is a gothic novel at its finest. Poetically written—with flashes of Walt Whitman, Charles Dickens, and Oscar Wilde—Cecil Dreeme is an early example of that rare bird, a queer novel from the 19th century.
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