Between men : English literature and male homosocial desire

Through an examination of the English novel in the mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century, this book argues that the emerging pattern of male friendship, mentorship, entitlement, rivalry and hetero- and homosexuality was in an intimate and shifting relation to class and that no element of that pattern can be understood outside of its relation to women and the gender system as a whole. Hailed by the "New York Times" as "one of the most influential texts in gender studies, men's studies and gay studies," this book uncovers the homosocial desire between men, from Restoration comedies to Tennyson's "Princess." At the time of its first appearance in 1985 Between Men was viewed as an important intervention into Feminist as well as Gay and Lesbian studies. It was an important book because it argued that "sexuality" and "desire" were not a historical phenomenon but carefully managed social constructs. This insight (that actually originated with Michael Foucault) is often viewed as anti-humanist or post-humanist because it argues that men and women are simply the products of patriarchal power relations over which they have no control. By mobilizing Foucault's theories of the history of sexuality Sedgwick re-fashions Feminism and Gay and Lesbian Studies to make it seem as though Feminism and Gay and Lesbian studies are ideally situated to continue those interventions into the history of sexuality begun by Foucault. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One. Gender Asymmetry and Erotic Triangles Chapter Two. Swan in Love: The Example of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Chapter Three. The Country Wife: Anatomies of Male Homosocial Desire Chapter Four. A Sentimental Journey: Sexualism and the Citizen of the World Chapter Five. Toward the Gothic: Terrorism and Homosexual Panic Chapter Six. Murder Incorporated: Confessions of a Justified Sinner Chapter Seven. Tennyson’s Princess: One Bride for Seven Brothers Chapter Eight. Adam Bede and Henry Esmond: Homosocial Desire and the Historicity of the Female Chapter Nine. Homophobia, Misogyny, and Capital: The Example of Our Mutual Friend Chapter Ten. Up the Postern Stair: Edwin Drood and the Homophobia of Empire Coda. Toward the Twentieth Century: English Readers of Whitman Notes Bibliography Index