Sappho in early modern England : female same-sex literary erotics, 1550-1714
Andreadis, Harriette2001
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This text examines public and private expressions of female same-sex sexuality in 16th- and 17th-century England. The author outlines the vernacular through which female same-sex erotics first entered verbal consciousness by examining travel narratives, anatomies and marital advice books. In Sappho in Early Modern England, Harriette Andreadis examines public and private expressions of female same-sex sexuality in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Before the language of modern sexual identities developed, a variety of discourses in both literary and extraliterary texts began to form a lexicon of female intimacy. Looking at accounts of non-normative female sexualities in travel narratives, anatomies, and even marital advice books, Andreadis outlines the vernacular through which a female same-sex erotics first entered verbal consciousness. She finds that "respectable" women of the middle classes and aristocracy who did not wish to identify themselves as sexually transgressive developed new vocabularies to describe their desires; women that we might call bisexual or lesbian, referred to in their day as tribades, fricatrices, or "rubsters," emerged in erotic discourses that allowed them to acknowledge their sexuality and still evade disapproval.
Main title:
Sappho in early modern England : female same-sex literary erotics, 1550-1714 / Harriette Andreadis.
Author:
Imprint:
Chicago, Ill. ; London : University of Chicago Press, c2001.
Collation:
xiii, 254 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Series title:
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-238) and index.
ISBN:
9780226020099 (pbk)9780226020082 (cased)
Dewey class:
820.93538086643
Language:
English
Subject:
Sappho -- InfluenceEnglish literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticismHomosexuality and literature -- England -- HistoryEnglish literature -- Women authors -- History and criticismEnglish literature -- 18th century -- History and criticismLesbians' writings, English -- History and criticismErotic literature, English -- History and criticismWomen and literature -- England -- HistoryEnglish literature -- Greek influencesLesbians in literatureSex in literatureLiteratureLiterary studies: generalEnglandEnglishGay & Lesbian studiesLiterature: history & criticismUnited Kingdom, Great BritainIreland
BRN:
1223859
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