In 1903, British philosopher G.E. Moore wrote the groundbreaking work Principia Ethica. Moore applied logic to ethics and promoted the ideals of friendship and love towards others, as well as aesthetic enjoyments. Moore’s work and philosophy was believed to have inspired members of the Bloomsbury Group. This philosophy freed them from the materialistic, utilitarian, and morality of the Victorian era to their more desired, idealistic and logical philosophy. John Maynard Keynes stated, "It was exciting, exhilarating, the beginning of a renaissance, the opening of a new heaven on a new earth, we were the forerunners of a new dispensation, we were not afraid of anything." The group’s attitudes were unusual in this era as they incorporated Non-religious,
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This liberation was a freedom of self, which included intellectual, and sexual freedom, as well as the pursuit of the aesthetic pleasing. The release from the Victorian ‘code of conduct’ and moral obligation led to an emphasis on intellectual honesty and ‘private consciousness’, which enabled the Bloomsbury Group to be defined as quintessentially Edwardian.
The Bloomsbury Group was a clique of young upper-middle class English intellectuals and artists who lived in the area of Bloomsbury, London. The residence at Bloomsbury was established by Vanessa Bell (nee Stephens) and her siblings, Thoby, Virginia and Adrian after their father Sir Leslie Stephens died in 1904. This relocation was significant, as it involved a move from a solid family home in the ‘good’ Kensington area to the young, unchaperoned household in the ‘bad’ bohemian Bloomsbury. Thoby’s friends from Cambridge gathered at his ‘At Homes’, …show more content…
Literary critic, Leon Edel, believed that the Bloomsbury's challenge to the sexual conventions of the previous generations was fundamental to linking the group together. He stated, “...where the Victorians had tried to bury sex as if it didn’t exist. They had shown that sex could be liberated from its Victorian guilt and shame. And they had shown that private lives need not interfere with public lives…” By championing personal freedoms, they also supported sexual experimentation and homosexuality (which was illegal in Britain until 1967). During the Victorian Era, homosexuality was recognised, but not tolerated and was considered shameful. Lesbianism was a concept that many Victorians could not grasp, as it involved no penetration, and was perceived as having no usefulness as the female being held no sexual desire. The pervading myth was that the Victorians viewed ‘marital sexuality’, congress between a man and a woman, as central in importance as it defined the primacy of marriage and its value in society. The Victorians also valued self-control and sexual restraint, even within marriages sex could be withheld. The pervading belief that women held no sexual desire enabled men to be considered virtuous and admirable for their restraint. However, various members of the Bloomsbury group such as, Lytton Strachey, his cousin Duncan Grant, and Maynard Keynes participated in same-sex erotica. Virginia Woolf, who showed no enthusiasm for sex with her
This liberation was a freedom of self, which included intellectual, and sexual freedom, as well as the pursuit of the aesthetic pleasing. The release from the Victorian ‘code of conduct’ and moral obligation led to an emphasis on intellectual honesty and ‘private consciousness’, which enabled the Bloomsbury Group to be defined as quintessentially Edwardian.
The Bloomsbury Group was a clique of young upper-middle class English intellectuals and artists who lived in the area of Bloomsbury, London. The residence at Bloomsbury was established by Vanessa Bell (nee Stephens) and her siblings, Thoby, Virginia and Adrian after their father Sir Leslie Stephens died in 1904. This relocation was significant, as it involved a move from a solid family home in the ‘good’ Kensington area to the young, unchaperoned household in the ‘bad’ bohemian Bloomsbury. Thoby’s friends from Cambridge gathered at his ‘At Homes’, …show more content…
Literary critic, Leon Edel, believed that the Bloomsbury's challenge to the sexual conventions of the previous generations was fundamental to linking the group together. He stated, “...where the Victorians had tried to bury sex as if it didn’t exist. They had shown that sex could be liberated from its Victorian guilt and shame. And they had shown that private lives need not interfere with public lives…” By championing personal freedoms, they also supported sexual experimentation and homosexuality (which was illegal in Britain until 1967). During the Victorian Era, homosexuality was recognised, but not tolerated and was considered shameful. Lesbianism was a concept that many Victorians could not grasp, as it involved no penetration, and was perceived as having no usefulness as the female being held no sexual desire. The pervading myth was that the Victorians viewed ‘marital sexuality’, congress between a man and a woman, as central in importance as it defined the primacy of marriage and its value in society. The Victorians also valued self-control and sexual restraint, even within marriages sex could be withheld. The pervading belief that women held no sexual desire enabled men to be considered virtuous and admirable for their restraint. However, various members of the Bloomsbury group such as, Lytton Strachey, his cousin Duncan Grant, and Maynard Keynes participated in same-sex erotica. Virginia Woolf, who showed no enthusiasm for sex with her