Queering the History of Reading: Women Readers, Female Homoeroticism and Trans Possibility in Renaissance Romance
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of English Lit, Lang & Linguistics
Abstract
By exploring representations of homoerotic and genderfluid possibility in texts by Sidney,
Spenser, Wroth, and Cavendish, and identifying their early readership as influenced by
Renaissance rhetorical practices, I argue for the ability of early modern women to be 'queer
readers' of early modern romance. I combine Renaissance rhetoric, which often included
speaking through multiple gendered identities, with each text's constructed reader(s) and the
material traces of female readers to offer a new methodology to early modern queer studies
and the history of reading.
Spenser, Wroth, and Cavendish, and identifying their early readership as influenced by
Renaissance rhetorical practices, I argue for the ability of early modern women to be 'queer
readers' of early modern romance. I combine Renaissance rhetoric, which often included
speaking through multiple gendered identities, with each text's constructed reader(s) and the
material traces of female readers to offer a new methodology to early modern queer studies
and the history of reading.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Mabel Mundy (Student) |