The Sexuality of History

Modernity and the Sapphic, 1565-1830

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European, Nonfiction, History, European General
Cover of the book The Sexuality of History by Susan S. Lanser, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Susan S. Lanser ISBN: 9780226187877
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: December 5, 2014
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Susan S. Lanser
ISBN: 9780226187877
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: December 5, 2014
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

The period of reform, revolution, and reaction that characterized seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe also witnessed an intensified interest in lesbians. In scientific treatises and orientalist travelogues, in French court gossip and Dutch court records, in passionate verse, in the rising novel, and in cross-dressed flirtations on the English and Spanish stage, poets, playwrights, philosophers, and physicians were placing sapphic relations before the public eye.            
 
In The Sexuality of History, Susan S. Lanser shows how intimacies between women became harbingers of the modern, bringing the sapphic into the mainstream of some of the most significant events in Western Europe. Ideas about female same-sex relations became a focal point for intellectual and cultural contests between authority and liberty, power and difference, desire and duty, mobility and change, order and governance. Lanser explores the ways in which a historically specific interest in lesbians intersected with, and stimulated, systemic concerns that would seem to have little to do with sexuality. Departing from the prevailing trend of queer reading whereby scholars ferret out hidden content in “closeted” texts, Lanser situates overtly erotic representations within wider spheres of interest.  The Sexuality of History shows that just as we can understand sexuality by studying the past, so too can we understand the past by studying sexuality.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The period of reform, revolution, and reaction that characterized seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe also witnessed an intensified interest in lesbians. In scientific treatises and orientalist travelogues, in French court gossip and Dutch court records, in passionate verse, in the rising novel, and in cross-dressed flirtations on the English and Spanish stage, poets, playwrights, philosophers, and physicians were placing sapphic relations before the public eye.            
 
In The Sexuality of History, Susan S. Lanser shows how intimacies between women became harbingers of the modern, bringing the sapphic into the mainstream of some of the most significant events in Western Europe. Ideas about female same-sex relations became a focal point for intellectual and cultural contests between authority and liberty, power and difference, desire and duty, mobility and change, order and governance. Lanser explores the ways in which a historically specific interest in lesbians intersected with, and stimulated, systemic concerns that would seem to have little to do with sexuality. Departing from the prevailing trend of queer reading whereby scholars ferret out hidden content in “closeted” texts, Lanser situates overtly erotic representations within wider spheres of interest.  The Sexuality of History shows that just as we can understand sexuality by studying the past, so too can we understand the past by studying sexuality.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book The Constitution in Congress by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book The Willow Pattern by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Executing Freedom by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Animal Intimacies by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Essays on Economics and Economists by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Tough Enough by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Success and Failure in Limited War by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Stitching the West Back Together by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Gravity's Ghost by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Human-Built World by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Prisoners of Shangri-La by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book A Final Story by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Biopower by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book School, Society, and State by Susan S. Lanser
Cover of the book Import Competition and Response by Susan S. Lanser
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy