ENGLISH, Elizabeth; FUNKE, Jana; PARKER, Sarah (eds.)
Interrogating Lesbian Modernism. Histories, Forms, Genres

Makiko Minow coined the phrase “lesbian modernism” in 1989. Since then, scholars of lesbian modernism have produced crucial work to critique and expand the modernist canon. At the same time, there has been ongoing critical debate about what constitutes a lesbian modernist text, who counts as a lesbian modernist author, and how lesbian modernism relates to queer and trans modernism. This edited volume presents 12 newly commissioned chapters that reassess and interrogate the meanings, uses and limitations of lesbian modernism by exploring a broad range of authors, genres and histories (including Christopher St. John/Christabel Marshall; Edna St. Vincent Millay; Natalie Clifford Barney; Vita Sackville-West; Mariette Lydis; Radclyffe Hall; Eva Gore-Booth. Individual chapters investigate what work the concept of “lesbian modernism” has done in the past, how its boundaries have been defined and contested, and what voices have been included and excluded. As a whole, the book demonstrates how the concept of lesbian modernism can be mobilised in new and meaningful ways to continue to inform and enrich modernist studies. [publishers’ note]

With contributions by Jodie Medd, Jana Funke, Katharina Boeckenhoff, Elizabeth English, Abbey Rees-Hales, Steven Macnamara, Hannah Roche, Kathryn Holland, Katherine Mullin, Sarah Parker, Robin Hackett, Jo Winning.

Digital printing but uncut pages. Wow!

Published by Edinburgh University Press, 2023
Art History / Essays / Literature / Queer Culture