Edward Carpenter
(1844-1929), Writer on social subjectsSitter in 9 portraits
Writer and advocate of libertarian beliefs; after a brief career at Cambridge, worked as a University Extension lecturer in northern England; settled at Millthorpe, Derbyshire, 1883, where he combined his literary work with a simple life of gardening and sandal-making. Influenced by Walt Whitman and Socialism, his works include Towards Democracy, 1883-1902, England's Ideal, 1885, and Civilisation, its Cause and Cure, 1889. From 1893, he lived openly with his working class lover, George Merrill. This rejection of conventional notions of social and sexual behaviour had a profound impact on such younger followers as E.M. Forster. His book Homogenic Love (1895) advocated the acceptance of relationships between men.
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