Teleny or the Reverse of the Medal

The homoerotic novel Teleny is an important antithesis to the prudish idealism of the neo-classic and neo-romantic lyric love poetry of the fin du siecle. It is a work of unmasking the cynical double moral standards of the Victorian era: The love of Camille and Teleny is shattered by social reprisals. The book was published in 1893 in 200 copies by Leonard Smithers who praised it as being “the most powerful and cleverly written erotic romance which has appeared in the English language” during that era, “a book that will certainly rank as the chief of its class.”