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Queer Philologies: Sex, Language, and Affect in Shakespeare's Time
Received the Elizabeth Dietz Award, for a contribution to Tudor and Stuart Drama, conferred by Rice University and SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
For Jeffrey Masten, the history of sexuality and the history of language are intimately related. In Queer Philologies, he studies particular terms that illuminate the history of sexuality in Shakespeare's time and analyzes the methods we have used to study sex and gender in literary and cultural history. Building on the work of theorists and historians who have, following Foucault, investigated the importance of words like "homosexual," "sodomy," and "tribade" in a variety of cultures and historical periods, Masten argues that just as the history of sexuality requires the history of language, so too does philology, "the love of the word," require the analytical lens provided by the study of sexuality.
Masten unpacks the etymology, circulation, transformation, and constitutive power of key words within the early modern discourse of sex and gender—terms such as "conversation" and "intercourse," "fundament" and "foundation," "friend" and "boy"—that described bodies, pleasures, emotions, sexual acts, even (to the extent possible in this period) sexual identities. Analyzing the continuities as well as differences between Shakespeare's language and our own, he offers up a queer lexicon in which the letter "Q" is perhaps the queerest character of all.
For Jeffrey Masten, the history of sexuality and the history of language are intimately related. In Queer Philologies, he studies particular terms that illuminate the history of sexuality in Shakespeare's time and analyzes the methods we have used to study sex and gender in literary and cultural history. Building on the work of theorists and historians who have, following Foucault, investigated the importance of words like "homosexual," "sodomy," and "tribade" in a variety of cultures and historical periods, Masten argues that just as the history of sexuality requires the history of language, so too does philology, "the love of the word," require the analytical lens provided by the study of sexuality.
Masten unpacks the etymology, circulation, transformation, and constitutive power of key words within the early modern discourse of sex and gender—terms such as "conversation" and "intercourse," "fundament" and "foundation," "friend" and "boy"—that described bodies, pleasures, emotions, sexual acts, even (to the extent possible in this period) sexual identities. Analyzing the continuities as well as differences between Shakespeare's language and our own, he offers up a queer lexicon in which the letter "Q" is perhaps the queerest character of all.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published July 25, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 19, 2026
I plowed through this book. Its insights are absolutely fascinating, and Masten's wordsmithery and downright play with language are a delight to the eye and ear. Indeed, sometimes I found myself both shaking my head and chuckling at Masten's persistent cheekiness. (At one point he gives us "reading is fundamental" at the absolute perfect moment.)
Most important, however, are the implications of this book for the further study of sexuality, gender, sex practices, and desire in the Early Modern period. Masten's work here is nearly breathtaking in its scope. For me, what I found so exciting about reading this book are the instant prompts that Queer Philology gave me for how to read better and more carefully, for how to think in smarter ways about what I'm reading and what I've read. It's not just that Masten produces new and fascinating readings of Sir Thomas More, Othello, As You Like It, Edward II, and other plays, but also that he immediately prompts our own better reading practices. How, for example, might Masten's discussions of boy-desire in chapters 4 and 5 prompt us to read Claudio in Much Ado or Cassio in Othello differently? Or how might Masten's discussion of the gloss of the word "lover" in Merchant prompt us to think again about how we gloss the exact same word in Coriolanus? Does Hamlet actually tell Horatio to "call me by your name" (he, in fact, does), and doesn't Hamlet's uncle, the King, remark quite clearly that Hamlet is "unmanly" in his opening speech (he does), and what do we make of that? These and other insights abound in Queer Philologies, and I will be thinking about this book for years to come.
Most important, however, are the implications of this book for the further study of sexuality, gender, sex practices, and desire in the Early Modern period. Masten's work here is nearly breathtaking in its scope. For me, what I found so exciting about reading this book are the instant prompts that Queer Philology gave me for how to read better and more carefully, for how to think in smarter ways about what I'm reading and what I've read. It's not just that Masten produces new and fascinating readings of Sir Thomas More, Othello, As You Like It, Edward II, and other plays, but also that he immediately prompts our own better reading practices. How, for example, might Masten's discussions of boy-desire in chapters 4 and 5 prompt us to read Claudio in Much Ado or Cassio in Othello differently? Or how might Masten's discussion of the gloss of the word "lover" in Merchant prompt us to think again about how we gloss the exact same word in Coriolanus? Does Hamlet actually tell Horatio to "call me by your name" (he, in fact, does), and doesn't Hamlet's uncle, the King, remark quite clearly that Hamlet is "unmanly" in his opening speech (he does), and what do we make of that? These and other insights abound in Queer Philologies, and I will be thinking about this book for years to come.
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January 22, 2019820.9003 M4231 2016
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews