Before Pornography: Erotic Writing in Early Modern England

Ian Frederick Moulton

Oxford University Press, 2000 - History - 268 pages

Before Pornography explores the relationship between erotic writing, masculinity, and national identity in Renaissance England. Drawing on both manuscripts and printed texts, and incorporating insights from modern feminist theory and queer studies, the book argues that pornography is a historical phenomenon: while the representation of sexual activity exists in nearly all cultures, pornography does not. The book includes analyses of the social significance of eroticism in such canonical texts as Sidney's Defense of Poesy and Spenser's Faerie Queene.

About the author

Ian Frederick Moulton is at Arizona State University West.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Before Pornography: Erotic Writing in Early Modern England; Studies in the history of sexuality
• Author: Ian Frederick Moulton
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000
• ISBN: 019517982X, 9780195179828
• Length: 268 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Great Britain / General; Literary Criticism / Ancient & Classical; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Literary Criticism / Renaissance; Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / Love & Erotica; Social Science / Human Sexuality; Social Science / Pornography