ABSTRACT
The chapter offers insights into the formation of early sexological literature on non-normative sexuality. A close reading of selected psycho-medical texts by Sándor Ferenczi, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, and Magnus Hirschfeld sheds light on the polyphonic nature of early sexological discourses, which at the turn of the twentieth century were based on patients’ autobiographical notes. In the late 1800s, descriptive case studies entered into a close dialogue with lifewriting genres, allowing the creation of complex narratives about the patients’ experiences. The modernist turn in literature, the visual arts, music, and architecture did not omit psycho-medical sciences. Therefore, the pluralization of views on human sexuality was reflected in early sexological writings. At the turn of the twentieth century, drawing inspiration from German-, English-, and French-speaking authors, early sexological discourses developed rapidly in Hungary. This chapter demonstrates how significant the sexological turn was in literary and artistic modernism, which transformed the image of the human body and its desires.
