The Gendering of Men, 1600–1750: The English Phallus

by Thomas A. King

University of Wisconsin Press, 2004
Paper: 978-0-299-19784-1 | Cloth: 978-0-299-19780-3
Library of Congress Classification PR428.M37K56 2004
Dewey Decimal Classification 820.93521

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Taking on nothing less than the formation of modern genders and sexualities, Thomas A. King develops a history of the political and performative struggles that produced both normative and queer masculinities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The result is a major contribution to gender studies, gay studies, and theater and performance history.
The Gendering of Men, 1600–1750 traces the transition from a society based on alliance, which had subordinated all men, women, and boys to higher ranked males, to one founded in sexuality, through which men have embodied their claims to personal and political privacy. King proposes that the male body is a performative production marking men’s resistance to their subjection within patriarchy and sovereignty. Emphasizing that categories of gender must come under historical analysis, The Gendering of Men explores men’s particpation in an ongoing struggle for access to a universal manliness transcending other biological and social differentials.

This is volume one of two projected volumes.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Thomas A. King is associate professor of English at Brandeis University, where he teaches early modern and eighteenth-century studies, gender and queer studies, and performance studies. Prior to his teaching career, King worked as an A.E.A. stage manager in Chicago. He has published articles on Restoration and eighteenth-century theater history, gender and sexuality, and gay men’s camp. Forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Press is The Gendering of Men, 1600–1750: Queer Articulations, the second volume of this study. King lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

REVIEWS

"The Gendering of Men is a wonderful book. . . . it is sure to make a splash in GLBT studies and history, in queer studies, and in eighteenth-century studies. Building on previous scholarly works that interrogate notions of sexuality and gender in the ‘long eighteenth century (1660–1800),’ King complicates and clarifies ways in which we can understand early-modern and modern sexual and gender identities."—Hans Turley, University of Connecticut

"Dazzling in the depth and breadth of scholarly inquiry that has gone into the book’s production, the reach of King’s argument will do much to persuade those less or little interested in theater to think again about the relevance of this genre to any research of the period."—Susan Bennett, University of Calgary, Canada

“Those interested in queer studies, performance studies, and early modern culture will find this book valuable.”—Choice

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Figures 000
Acknowledgments 000
Note on Original Texts Quotes 000
Part 1: Publicity
Introduction to Part 1: History before the Phallus? 000
1. Positioning Men 000
2. A Politics of Effeminacy 000
3. Residual Pederasty and the National Body 000
Part 2: Privacy
Introduction to Part 2: History before the Look? 000
4. Private Men, Public Spectacles 000
5. The English Phallus 000
6. Embodying Mr. Spectator 000
7. "There's difference in men": The Fop and the Politics of Pleasure 000
Conclusion: The Promise of Gender 000
Notes 000
Index 000




Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: English literature Early modern, 1500-1700 History and criticism, Masculinity in literature, English literature 18th century History and criticism, English literature Male authors History and criticism, Homosexuality and literature England History, Masculinity England History, Sexual orientation in literature, Group identity in literature, Body, Human, in literature, Men England History, Sex role in literature, Penis in literature, Men in literature

See other books on: 17th Century | Early modern, 1500-1700 | Masculinity | Men | Sex role in literature
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