The Sotadic Zone - Hardcover

Burton Sir, Sir Richard Francis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1258056828 ISBN 13: 9781258056827

Publisher: Literary Licensing, LLC, 2011

Synopsis

Burton's scandalous, opinionated, amusing foray into a topography that he names the Sotadic Zone. It includes both shores of the Mediterranean, embraces Asia Minor, Afghanistan, Sind, the Punjab and Kashmir, Indo-China, China, Japan, the South Sea Islands, and much of the New World at the time of its discovery. He derived "Sotadic" from the name of the Greek poet Sotades, playfully offering "Satodism" as an esoteric substitute for "sexual inversion." He worked before there was a discipline called anthropology. But in this comparative essay he proposed a theory of same sex activity, supposedly more prevalent in areas of what he termed the Sotadic Zone, comprising many places where Burton himself traveled and lived. He defined these as primarily tropical, but areas such as Alaska were included, all "non Western." Many later writers would refer to his ideas and research, for example, John Addington Symonds in Problem in Greek Ethics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Literary Licensing, LLC
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1258056828
• ISBN 13: 9781258056827
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 106