Epistemology of the ClosetSince the late 1980s, queer studies and theory have become vital to the intellectual and political life of the United States. This has been due, in no small degree, to the influence of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's critically acclaimed Epistemology of the Closet. Working from classic texts of European and American writers - including Melville, James, Nietzsche, Proust, and Wilde - Sedgwick analyzes a turn-of-the-century historical moment in which sexual orientation became as important a demarcation of personhood as gender had been for centuries. In her preface to this updated edition Sedgwick places the book both personally and historically, looking specifically at the horror of the first wave of the AIDS epidemic and its influence on the text. |
What people are saying - Write a review
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
LibraryThing Review
User Review - AlexTheHunn - LibraryThingThis is a tour-de-force examination of epistemological questions as they arise from and pertain to the closet - in which homosexual may live sheltered, private lives. I confess that as no trained ... Read full review
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acts already appear authority become begin Billy Budd body called canon Captain century chapter Charlus Claggart closet coming common course culture dangerous defined definition depends described desire discourse discussion distinct effect embodiment fact feel female feminist figure gender given hand heterosexual historical homo homophobic homosexual identity important individual instance issues James kind knowledge least lesbian less look male Marcher matter meaning narrative narrator nature never Nietzsche object offer once panic particular performative perhaps person political position possibility potential precisely present Press Proust question reader reading reason refers relations rhetorical same-sex secret seems seen sense sentimental sexual social space specifically story structure suggest thing thought tion true turn understanding universalizing Vere Vere's visible whole Wilde woman women writing York