Developments in the Histories of Sexualities: In Search of the Normal, 16001800 [Hardcover]

Developments in the Histories of Sexualities: In Search of the Normal,1600-1800 explores the oppositionscreated by the official exclusion ofbanned sexual practices and theresistance to that exclusion throughwidespread acceptance of thoseoutlawed practices at an interpersonallevel. At different times and in differentplaces, state legislation sets uportries to set upa normal by rejectinga particular practice or group ofpractices. Yet this normal is derogatedby popular practice, since the bannedacts themselves are thought at thegrassroots level to be normal. Amongthe events discussed in these essaysare the Woods-Pirie trial, the Ladies ofLlangollen, the popular acceptance offops and mollies, and the press reactionto the discovery that James Allen wasa woman who had lived successfullyas a man and Lavinia Edwards wasa man who had made her living as afemale prostitute. Developments in the History of Sexualities analyzesboth the state language of bansand fiats about sexuality, and thegrassroots language which marks theacceptance of multiplicity in sexualpractice. Contributors benefit fromthe accumulation of new evidenceof attitudes towards sexual practice,and they engage with a wide range oftexts, including Ned Wards History of the Clubs, Tobias Smolletts Roderick Random, Shakespeares Taming of the Shrew and The Tempest, Drydens All for Love, Anne Batten Cristalls Poetical Sketches, Isaac de Benserades Iphis et Iante, and Alessandro Verris Le Avventure di Saffo.Chris Mounsey is professor of English at the University of Winchester.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Sexuality Post(con)structuralism and After
Chris Mounsey
One: The History of Homosexuality Reconsidered
George Haggerty
Two: Queer Renaissance Dramaturgy, Shakespeare's Shrew, and the Deconstruction of Marriage
David Orvis
Three: 'Unusual Fires': Ann Batten Cristall's Queer Temporality
Chris Nagle
Four: De-sexing the Lesbian: Isaac de Benserade's Narrative Quest
Marianlƒ”