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On the Queerness of Early English Drama
Sex in the Subjunctive
Tison Pugh (Author)
9781487508746
Hardback, published 26 February 2021
256 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.4 cm, 0.48 kg
"This book has secured a place among the monographs that have shaped the field of early modern queer historiography and drama." "For its fine scholarship, Pugh’s book stands beside related studies such as Mario DiGangi’s The Homoerotics of Early Modern Drama and James Bromley’s Clothing and Queer Style in Early Modern English Drama. For its accessible language and skillful application of current critical queer theory, this title will appeal to students at all levels." "Pugh’s well-researched and convincingly argued book demonstrates not only the value and relevance of the medieval theatrical tradition but also its long-suppressed queerness." "Tison Pugh’s On the Queerness of Early English Drama: Sex in the Subjunctive is a welcome addition to queer studies scholarship in early English drama studies. It reminds us how very queer early English drama is and provides fresh avenues of exploration for those of us working in this field."
Often viewed as theologically conservative, many theatrical works of late medieval and early Tudor England nevertheless exploited the performative nature of drama to flirt with unsanctioned expressions of desire, allowing queer identities and themes to emerge. Early plays faced vexing challenges in depicting sexuality, but modes of queerness, including queer scopophilia, queer dialogue, queer characters, and queer performances, fractured prevailing restraints. Many of these plays were produced within male homosocial environments, and thus homosociality served as a narrative precondition of their storylines. Building from these foundations, On the Queerness of Early English Drama investigates occluded depictions of sexuality in late medieval and early Tudor dramas. Tison Pugh explores a range of topics, including the unstable genders of the York Corpus Christi Plays, the morally instructive humour of excremental allegory in Mankind, the confused relationship of sodomy and chastity in John Bale’s historical interludes, and the camp artifice and queer carnival of Sir David Lyndsay’s Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis. Pugh concludes with Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi, pondering the afterlife of medieval drama and its continued utility in probing cultural constructions of gender and sexuality
Introduction: Quem Quaeritis? Queerness in Early English Drama Part One: Queer Theories and Themes of Early English Drama 1. A Subjunctive Theory of Dramatic Queerness 2. Themes of Friendship and Sodomy Part Two: Queer Readings of Early English Drama 3. Performative Typology, Jewish Genders, and Jesus’s Queer Romance in the York Corpus Christi Plays 4. Excremental Desire, Queer Allegory, and the Disidentified Audience of Mankind 5. Sodomy, Chastity, and Queer Historiography in John Bale’s Interludes 6. Camp and the Hermaphroditic Gaze in Sir David Lyndsay’s Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis Conclusion: Theatrical Medievalisms, Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi, and the Queer Legacy of Early English Drama Works Cited