Sodometries: Renaissance Texts, Modern Sexualities

by Jonathan Goldberg

This is a book about representations of sodomy. While most of the texts it considers are literary - works by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser and others - it is framed by more recent political considerations. The book takes as axiomatic that Foucault's description of sodomy as that utterly confused category, which he assigned to historic regimes before the advent of sexuality, applies not only to Renaissance texts but to modern situations as well. The analyses of literary texts engage the most advanced work in contemporary literary criticism (that done by feminist and New Historicist critics) and propose a gay studies perspective that necessarily complicates and enriches the discussions of gender and history. Goldberg brings rigorous scholarship to bear on a powerful contemporary polemic about the ways in which a past that never was is used to justify the repression of gay sexuality today.

Genres: Shakespeare, Queer, Theory

316 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1992

Reviews

[Grace Clawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few things right off the bat. This is definitely a testament to early modern scholarship in the early-to-mid nineties. New Historicism is a constant point of concern, and there is a clear impetus against material readings of terminology.

There were tons of things that I thought were helpful to think about when it comes to this text; the introduction itself is a remarkable deconstruction of what sodomy embodied in the Renaissance, and how it is quite reductive to think about it solely in terms of male homoeroticism. I especially thought that Goldberg's reading of Foucault, that the terminology of sodomy is "slippery" and unstable at best, serves as a great basis to unpack some of its occurrences in sociopsychological disturbances. Namely, I think that the first section which examines the works of George Puttenham and Spenser, is the part that will be the most acutely necessary to my course of study, but I also found the section on de-siring Prince Hal to read well.

My biggest complaint is that sometimes poststructuralists just won't acknowledge that it's kind of impossible to fully remove a term from its material uses--something that Derrida actual mentions in "Structures, Sign, and Play," one of the more influential readings of linguistic deconstruction. It is definitely what I expected, so that's fun, I guess.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember finding this book in the bargain section of a small bookstore in northern Michigan. Isn't it funny how I can remember the location of almost every book I've bought? Just picking it up takes me back to that day.

Reflecting on past visits to bookstores aside, this was an alright read. It's a series of essays on, well, historical sodomites. I definitely enjoyed parts of the book more than others; in particular, I liked the last section about South and North America. I definitely feel like I learned a few things. I'm not sure who will find a whole lot of value in reading this outside of academics to be honest.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read the chapter "Desiring Hal", which I found interesting but written so densely I struggled to make sense of it and found some of the arguments to be a bit tenuous.