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Squibs: 17th Century Sources in the LHMP
Jan. 27th, 2016 07:44 amI’m still promoting my free e-story “The Mazarinette and the Musketeer”, so I thought I’d cheat a bit on Squib Day and do one of my little topical round-ups from the Lesbian Historic Motif Project.
Unlike the “long 18th century”, there doesn’t seem to have been a concerted look at lesbian-like themes in the 17th century as a narrow focus, but the period does get covered regularly both under an “early modern” rubric, and sometimes as the tail end of the Renaissance, as well as in longer-term general surveys of post-medieval material.
General Studies
A particularly excellent introduction to the topic is Emma Donoghue’s Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture 1668-1801 (link is to the first of a series of posts) as well as her more literature-oriented Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature (again, the link is the first of a series of posts).
Susan Lanser’s The Sexuality of History: Modernity and the Sapphic, 1565-1830 includes significant coverage of the 17th century, focusing on how the image of the lesbian was used in social and political discourse (link is to the first of a series of posts).
A similarly in-depth work is Valerie Traub’s The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England covering the 16-17th centuries (link is to the first of a series of posts).
In the collection Singlewomen in the European Past 1250-1800 (eds. Judith M. Bennett and Amy M. Froide), the following articles include 17th century material: “Singlewomen in Early Modern Venice” (Monica Chojnacka), demographic surveys in “Singlewomen in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: The Demographic Perspective” (Maryanne Kowaleski), and studies on the available circumstances for singlehood in “Having Her Own Smoke: Employment and Independence for Singlewomen in Germany 1400-1750” (Merry E. Wiesner). The only article specifically addressing lesbianism in this collection, however, focuses on the 18th century.
Beynon and Gonda’s collection Lesbian Dames: Sapphism in the Long Eighteenth Century includes material covering the end of the 17th. Valerie Traub’s “’Friendship So Curst’: Amor Impossibilis, the Homoerotic Lament and the Nature of Lesbian Desire” traces the rise of a motif that women’s same-sex desire was socially acceptable because it was “impossible” to carry out. Sally O’Driscoll’s “A Crisis of Femininity: Re-Making Gender in Popular Discourse” traces a shift in popular attitudes towards women’s sexuality beginning from the later 17th century. David Robinson’s “Pornographic Homophobia: L’Academie des dames and the Deconstructing Lesbian” examines a foundational pornographic text of the later 17th century that foregrounds sex between women as part of a much wider variety of transgressive sexual activity.
Historic Source Materials
Kenneth Borris’s survey of historic source materials, Same-Sex Desire in the English Renaissance: A Sourcebook of Texts, 1470-1650 includes some early 17th century material. Of particular relevance are the chapter on Medicine and some of the material in Love and Friendship. A similar survey of source materials covering France is found in Jeffrey Merrick and Bryant T. Ragan’s Homosexuality in Early Modern France: A Documentary Collection which covers the 16-18th century and in particular has an extensive catalog of the sapphic material in Brantôme.
Special Topics
The dramatic stage is a context for portrayals of relationships between women, though often via gender-disguise motifs. Works from the 17th century are discussed in Douglas Bruster’s “Female-Female Eroticism and the Early Modern Stage”. Mary Beth Rose’s article “Women in Men’s Clothing: Apparel and Social Stability in The Roaring Girl” looks at both the real life and dramatic portrayal of Moll Frith. And a nearly exhaustive catalog of 17th century English plays with any trace of female homoeroticism is included in Denise Walen’s Constructions of Female Homoeroticism in Early Modern Drama (link is to the first of a series of posts, which are still in process at this time).
The motif of the “female husband” or the use of gender disguise to enable two female-bodied persons to establish a romantic or sexual partnership is prevalent in the 17th century. One interesting case is covered in Patricia Crawford and Sara Mendelson’s article “Sexual Identities in Early Modern England: The Marriage of Two Women in 1680". A more general study of gender-disguised women (with a variety of motivations) is found in Rudolf M. Dekker and Lotte van de Pol’s The Tradition of Female Transvestism in Early Modern Europe (link is to Part 1 of 3). Another take on the general motif, focusing on pop culture representations, is Dianne Dugaw’s Warrior Women and Popular Balladry 1650-1850 (link is to the first of 2 posts).
In addition, there’s my previous link-post on Julie d’Aubigny.
All in all, quite a wealth of inspirations for those who want to write stories about 17th century western European women loving each other!
Unlike the “long 18th century”, there doesn’t seem to have been a concerted look at lesbian-like themes in the 17th century as a narrow focus, but the period does get covered regularly both under an “early modern” rubric, and sometimes as the tail end of the Renaissance, as well as in longer-term general surveys of post-medieval material.
General Studies
A particularly excellent introduction to the topic is Emma Donoghue’s Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture 1668-1801 (link is to the first of a series of posts) as well as her more literature-oriented Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature (again, the link is the first of a series of posts).
Susan Lanser’s The Sexuality of History: Modernity and the Sapphic, 1565-1830 includes significant coverage of the 17th century, focusing on how the image of the lesbian was used in social and political discourse (link is to the first of a series of posts).
A similarly in-depth work is Valerie Traub’s The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England covering the 16-17th centuries (link is to the first of a series of posts).
In the collection Singlewomen in the European Past 1250-1800 (eds. Judith M. Bennett and Amy M. Froide), the following articles include 17th century material: “Singlewomen in Early Modern Venice” (Monica Chojnacka), demographic surveys in “Singlewomen in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: The Demographic Perspective” (Maryanne Kowaleski), and studies on the available circumstances for singlehood in “Having Her Own Smoke: Employment and Independence for Singlewomen in Germany 1400-1750” (Merry E. Wiesner). The only article specifically addressing lesbianism in this collection, however, focuses on the 18th century.
Beynon and Gonda’s collection Lesbian Dames: Sapphism in the Long Eighteenth Century includes material covering the end of the 17th. Valerie Traub’s “’Friendship So Curst’: Amor Impossibilis, the Homoerotic Lament and the Nature of Lesbian Desire” traces the rise of a motif that women’s same-sex desire was socially acceptable because it was “impossible” to carry out. Sally O’Driscoll’s “A Crisis of Femininity: Re-Making Gender in Popular Discourse” traces a shift in popular attitudes towards women’s sexuality beginning from the later 17th century. David Robinson’s “Pornographic Homophobia: L’Academie des dames and the Deconstructing Lesbian” examines a foundational pornographic text of the later 17th century that foregrounds sex between women as part of a much wider variety of transgressive sexual activity.
Historic Source Materials
Kenneth Borris’s survey of historic source materials, Same-Sex Desire in the English Renaissance: A Sourcebook of Texts, 1470-1650 includes some early 17th century material. Of particular relevance are the chapter on Medicine and some of the material in Love and Friendship. A similar survey of source materials covering France is found in Jeffrey Merrick and Bryant T. Ragan’s Homosexuality in Early Modern France: A Documentary Collection which covers the 16-18th century and in particular has an extensive catalog of the sapphic material in Brantôme.
Special Topics
The dramatic stage is a context for portrayals of relationships between women, though often via gender-disguise motifs. Works from the 17th century are discussed in Douglas Bruster’s “Female-Female Eroticism and the Early Modern Stage”. Mary Beth Rose’s article “Women in Men’s Clothing: Apparel and Social Stability in The Roaring Girl” looks at both the real life and dramatic portrayal of Moll Frith. And a nearly exhaustive catalog of 17th century English plays with any trace of female homoeroticism is included in Denise Walen’s Constructions of Female Homoeroticism in Early Modern Drama (link is to the first of a series of posts, which are still in process at this time).
The motif of the “female husband” or the use of gender disguise to enable two female-bodied persons to establish a romantic or sexual partnership is prevalent in the 17th century. One interesting case is covered in Patricia Crawford and Sara Mendelson’s article “Sexual Identities in Early Modern England: The Marriage of Two Women in 1680". A more general study of gender-disguised women (with a variety of motivations) is found in Rudolf M. Dekker and Lotte van de Pol’s The Tradition of Female Transvestism in Early Modern Europe (link is to Part 1 of 3). Another take on the general motif, focusing on pop culture representations, is Dianne Dugaw’s Warrior Women and Popular Balladry 1650-1850 (link is to the first of 2 posts).
In addition, there’s my previous link-post on Julie d’Aubigny.
All in all, quite a wealth of inspirations for those who want to write stories about 17th century western European women loving each other!
