Erotic Politics

Taking eroticism on the English Renaissance stage as a paradigm for issues of sexuality and identity, these essays examine the nature of sexual definition and desire in early modern culture. Recent studies of Renaissance sexuality have focused on the subversive potential of gender reversal - this book widens the arena of debate to study the structure and cultural definition of erotic desire. The authors view the stage as a primary site for the display of eroticism and use it to decipher what may be radically different cultural codes and expectations. The Renaissance stage is seen as a decoder for erotic experience, which is used both to reinforce and subvert expected sexual behaviour. Any examination of Renaissance eroticism must acknowledge the profound shift in sexual sensibility which took place after the 17th century, a shift which introduced concepts of sexual dimorphism and "homosexuality" as a category. Thus, for example, several essays view the theatrical convention of cross-dressing or transvestism, as a contribution to a distinctly erotic dynamics.

""Erotic Politics is one of those rare collections in which the essays are of uniformly high quality--both thoughtful and responsible--and in which the essays establish a conversation among themselves which resonates after the book has been finished and put aside."-"South Central Review ..the volume provides a number of excellent models for how the theater's erotic dynamic can be approached historically. A particular strength of the collection is its commit