Interrogating Lesbian Modernism
Histories, Forms, Genres
Published on 28. February 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-1-4744-8606-4 (ISBN)
Description
Makiko Minow coined the phrase 'lesbian modernism' in 1989. Since then, scholars of lesbian modernism have produced crucial work to critique and expand the modernist canon. At the same time, there has been ongoing critical debate about what constitutes a lesbian modernist text, who counts as a lesbian modernist author, and how lesbian modernism relates to queer and trans modernism. This edited volume presents twelve newly commissioned chapters that reassess and interrogate the meanings, uses and limitations of lesbian modernism by exploring a broad range of authors, genres and histories. Individual chapters investigate what work the concept of 'lesbian modernism' has done in the past, how its boundaries have been defined and contested, and what voices have been included and excluded. As a whole, the book demonstrates how the concept of lesbian modernism can be mobilised in new and meaningful ways to continue to inform and enrich modernist studies.
Reviews / Votes
This impressive essay collection showcases the range and - perhaps more crucially - the continuing relevance of lesbian studies to scholars of literary modernism. Interrogating Lesbian Modernism invites readers to reflect on the past, present, and future of the figure of the 'lesbian' and will undoubtedly influence how we engage with modernity itself. -- Laura Doan, author of Disturbing Practices: History, Sexuality, and Women's Experience of Modern WarMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
11 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
440 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-8606-4 (9781474486064)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Elizabeth English is a Senior Lecturer in English at Cardiff Metropolitan University Jana Funke is Associate Professor of English and Sexuality Studies at the University of Exeter. Sarah Parker is a Senior Lecturer in English at Loughborough University.
Content
Introduction, Elizabeth English, Jana Funke, and Sarah Parker
Part 1: Interrogating Lesbian/Queer/Trans Modernism
Chapter 1: Loving/Hating/Loving Lesbian Modernism, Jodie Medd
Chapter 2: Lesbian-Trans-Feminist Modernism: Christopher St. John, Trans Masculinity and Celibate Friendship in Hungerheart: The Story of a Soul, Jana Funke
Chapter 3: The Ontology of the Pluri-Singular Body in Natalie Clifford Barney's The One Who is Legion or A.D.'s After-Life, Katharina Boeckenhoff
Part 2: Genres and Forms
Chapter 4: Imaginative Biography: Margaret Goldsmith, Vita Sackville-West and Lesbian Historical Life Writing, Elizabeth English
Chapter 5: Modernism at the Margins: Mariette Lydis's Print Portfolio Lesbiennes, Abbey Rees-Hales
Chapter 6: Inverting the Gaze: Radclyffe Hall and Male Sexual Identities, Steven Macnamara
Part 3: Relationality, Networks and Kinship
Chapter 7: Writing Widows of Lesbian Modernism, Hannah Roche
Chapter 8: Lesbianism in/and the Family: Eva Gore-Booth and the Making of Feminist Modernism, Kathryn Holland
Chapter 9: Lesbian Joyce, Katherine Mullin
Part 4: Histories and Temporalities
Chapter 10: Elizabethan Lovemaking: College Romance and Queer Anachronism in Edna St. Vincent Millay's The Lamp and the Bell, Sarah Parker
Chapter 11: The Lesbian Herstory Archives at Fifty, Robin Hackett
Chapter 12: Hidden in Plain Sight: The Reconstruction of Lesbian Modernist Sexual Histories, Jo Winning
Part 1: Interrogating Lesbian/Queer/Trans Modernism
Chapter 1: Loving/Hating/Loving Lesbian Modernism, Jodie Medd
Chapter 2: Lesbian-Trans-Feminist Modernism: Christopher St. John, Trans Masculinity and Celibate Friendship in Hungerheart: The Story of a Soul, Jana Funke
Chapter 3: The Ontology of the Pluri-Singular Body in Natalie Clifford Barney's The One Who is Legion or A.D.'s After-Life, Katharina Boeckenhoff
Part 2: Genres and Forms
Chapter 4: Imaginative Biography: Margaret Goldsmith, Vita Sackville-West and Lesbian Historical Life Writing, Elizabeth English
Chapter 5: Modernism at the Margins: Mariette Lydis's Print Portfolio Lesbiennes, Abbey Rees-Hales
Chapter 6: Inverting the Gaze: Radclyffe Hall and Male Sexual Identities, Steven Macnamara
Part 3: Relationality, Networks and Kinship
Chapter 7: Writing Widows of Lesbian Modernism, Hannah Roche
Chapter 8: Lesbianism in/and the Family: Eva Gore-Booth and the Making of Feminist Modernism, Kathryn Holland
Chapter 9: Lesbian Joyce, Katherine Mullin
Part 4: Histories and Temporalities
Chapter 10: Elizabethan Lovemaking: College Romance and Queer Anachronism in Edna St. Vincent Millay's The Lamp and the Bell, Sarah Parker
Chapter 11: The Lesbian Herstory Archives at Fifty, Robin Hackett
Chapter 12: Hidden in Plain Sight: The Reconstruction of Lesbian Modernist Sexual Histories, Jo Winning