Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England

Traub analyzes the representation of female-female love and eroticism in early modern literature and drama.

List of contents

Acknowledgements; List of illustrations; Introduction: 'practicing impossibilities'; 1. Setting the stage behind the seen: performing Lesbian history; 2. 'A certaine incredible excesse of pleasure': female orgasm, prosthetic pleasures, and the anatomical Pudica; 3. The politics of pleasure; or, queering Queen Elizabeth; 4. The (in)significance of Lesbian desire; 5. The psychomorphology of the clitoris; or, the reemergence of the Tribade in England; 6. Chaste femme love, mythological pastoral, and the perversion of Lesbian desire; 7. 'Friendship so curst': Amor Impossibilia, the homoerotic lament, and the nature of Lesbian desire; 8. The quest for origins, erotic similitude, and the melancholy of Lesbian identification; Notes; Index.

About the author

Valerie Traub is Professor of English and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and author of numerous works on gay/lesbian studies, including the book Desire and Anxiety: Circulations of Sexuality in Shakespearean Drama and coeditor of Feminist Readings in Early Modern Culture: Emerging Subjects.

Summary

Valerie Traub analyzes the representation of female-female love, desire and eroticism in a range of early modern discourses, including poetry, drama, visual arts, pornography and medicine. A contribution to the history of sexuality and feminist and queer theory, the book addresses current theoretical preoccupations through the lens of historical inquiry.

Product details

• Authors: Valerie Traub, Valerie (University of Michigan Traub
• Assisted by: Anne Barton (Editor), Stephen Orgel (Editor)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 06.06.2002
• EAN: 9780521444279
• ISBN: 978-0-521-44427-9
• No. of pages: 510
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture; Cambridge Studies in Renaissan; Cambridge Studies in Renaissan
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories