Year in Arcadia is an unusual book by an unusual author. Duke August Emil Leopold von Sachsen-Gotha (1772-1822), contemporary and acquaintance of Goethe, was the cross-dressing ruler of a miniscule German territory during the Napoleonic Era, and also Queen Victoria's grandfather-in-law. He was known to his subjects as "the Happy." We do not know if Duke August was happy, but his single published work is gay in more ways than one. With its backdrop of classical Greek mythology, this pastoral fable concerning two handsome ...
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Year in Arcadia is an unusual book by an unusual author. Duke August Emil Leopold von Sachsen-Gotha (1772-1822), contemporary and acquaintance of Goethe, was the cross-dressing ruler of a miniscule German territory during the Napoleonic Era, and also Queen Victoria's grandfather-in-law. He was known to his subjects as "the Happy." We do not know if Duke August was happy, but his single published work is gay in more ways than one. With its backdrop of classical Greek mythology, this pastoral fable concerning two handsome shepherds who fall in love is among the first homoerotic works in Europe, and is a forgotten treasure of German literature.
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