Same-Sex Desire in the English Renaissance: A Sourcebook of Texts, 14701650

Same-Sex Desire in the English Renaissance is an unprecedented collection of writings significant for the history of homosexuality and its precursors, drawn from literary, philosophical, religious, and scientific texts published between 1470 and 1650. While the documentary remains of early modern homoeroticism are scattered and fragmentary, and prior studies have focused either on males or on females, this anthology brings together in one convenient volume key readings for both male and female same-sex erotics. The readings gathered here include many rare texts that have not been reprinted for centuries, excerpted from biblical commentary, legal writings, medical and scientific writings, popular encyclopedias, and literature, as well as continental vernacular and Latin sources never before available in English translation. The selections are assembled in ten chapters addressing particular discursive fields - Theology, Law, Medicine, Astrology, Physiognomics, Encyclopedias and Reference Works, Prodigious Monstrosities, Love and Friendship, the Sapphic Renaissance, and Erotica. Each chapter includes a substantial introduction summarizing its topic and its relation to early modern homoeroticism. The volume also poignantly addresses key issues in Renaissance thinking about sexual identity, and newly clarifies central problems and debates in the historiography of same-sex love. With a wealth of primary sources and informative introductions, this remarkable anthology is the essential reference for male and female homoeroticism in the English Renaissance.

Author / Editor: Kenneth Borris

Category: Literary Criticism & Collections

ISBN: 0203499166

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