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Old English Literature and Same‐Sex Desire: An Overview
Author(s) -
Clark David
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
literature compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.158
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 1741-4113
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2009.00640.x
Subject(s) - closet , queer theory , human sexuality , queer , context (archaeology) , essentialism , heteronormativity , gender studies , sociology , psychology , history , archaeology
The study of same‐sex desire in the medieval period has been heavily influenced by the work of John Boswell and Michel Foucault, and the debate between essentialism and social constructionism. The year 1990 was a watershed year for queer theory, with the publication of influential work by Sedgwick and Butler. However, work on medieval gender and sexuality has often ignored Old English literature and research in Old English studies has sometimes suffered from an emphasis on the heteronormative. Allen Frantzen's book, Before the Closet , put same‐sex desire in Old English literature on the map, and subsequent and current research draws productively on the insights of gender and queer theory. More work remains to be done in applying more recent queer theoretical writings to an early medieval context, and in researching the representations of female same‐sex interactions.