My dissertation challenges a commonly accepted view that literary representations of lesbianism w... more My dissertation challenges a commonly accepted view that literary representations of lesbianism were merely a momentary fashion, linked to Symbolist and Decadent movements in literature. More than a trope for artistic sterility, the explosion of Sapphic representation emblematized the social fractures prevalent during the Third Republic. This dissertation illustrates that "Sapphism"-in literature and beyond-became a type of shorthand to discuss everything from declining natality to changing gender roles, from military fears to urban space to the nature of artistic production. Using legal, racial and other social discourses to provide different kinds of contextualization, my readings of such canonical authors as Zola, Proust, and Colette reveal how lesbian depictions were not merely about sexuality or art but addressed a host of social and political anxieties. Beginning with an analysis of censorship of lesbian themed novels between 1885 and 1895, I demonstrate the randomness of censorship and its failure to stem the growing number of lesbian depictions. This chapter is followed by an investigation of the role of racial and ethnic othering of the lesbian in French literature as a means to discuss French fears of contamination from its colonies and perceived threats from other world powers. Lesbian characterizations not only gestured to concerns about "Frenchness" and the health of the State, but they also linked sexuality with space. The literary accounts linking lesbian circulation with certain public spaces helped to reconfigure urban landscapes in Paris. The last chapter discusses ways in which both literature and the public lives of bisexual and lesbian authors challenged preconceived notions about marriage and its privileged status as the nec plus ultra of social relationships. Ultimately, I contend that lesbian history in France was not as invisible or non-existent as previously believed, but that in fact, the lesbian representation played an important role in the French imaginary as a means of discussing contemporary social anxieties.
In the last decade, Franco-Moroccan directors have begun to explore culturally taboo and unrepres... more In the last decade, Franco-Moroccan directors have begun to explore culturally taboo and unrepresented sexual communities within Morocco. This article examines how two pioneering films, Abdellah Taïa'sSalvation Armyand Nabil Ayouch'sMuch Loved, contribute to an emerging cultural politics in the Arab-speaking world that is reframing marginalized or invisible sexualities. While these films address issues of sexual tourism, incest, and prostitution, among others, the focus of this article is on the films’ critiques of internalized homophobia, sexual tourism, and the sociopolitical power structures that occlude, marginalize, or shame those males outside of the heterosexual matrix. Analyzing the films’ portrayal of the semiotics of forbidden desire, internalized homophobia, and the circulation and spatialization of queer sexualities in Morocco, this article argues thatSalvation ArmyandMuch Lovedcomplicate our understanding of Arab masculinities and add to a growing queer visibili...
... Luibhéid, Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border (Minneapo-lis: University of Minn... more ... Luibhéid, Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border (Minneapo-lis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002); Luibhéid and Lionel Cantú Jr., eds ... Paris, then follows with three chapters on the works of Romaine Brooks, Claude Cahun/Marcel Moore, and Suzy Solidor, teasing ...
Since Justin O'Brien's 1949 article" Albertine the Ambiguous,&quot... more Since Justin O'Brien's 1949 article" Albertine the Ambiguous," which examined the importance of sexuality in Proust's corpus, most scholarly investigation has discussed male homosexuality in À la recherche du temps perdu. 1 Proust's more robust development of ...
... Joseph Bristow's Oscar Wilde and Modern Culture: The Making of a Legend brings together ... more ... Joseph Bristow's Oscar Wilde and Modern Culture: The Making of a Legend brings together a dozen essays, most of which are devoted to illustrating ... Turning to the ways that Wilde has mattered to later artists, Lizzie Thynne writes about the career of Claude Cahun, a brave and ...
My dissertation challenges a commonly accepted view that literary representations of lesbianism w... more My dissertation challenges a commonly accepted view that literary representations of lesbianism were merely a momentary fashion, linked to Symbolist and Decadent movements in literature. More than a trope for artistic sterility, the explosion of Sapphic representation emblematized the social fractures prevalent during the Third Republic. This dissertation illustrates that "Sapphism"-in literature and beyond-became a type of shorthand to discuss everything from declining natality to changing gender roles, from military fears to urban space to the nature of artistic production. Using legal, racial and other social discourses to provide different kinds of contextualization, my readings of such canonical authors as Zola, Proust, and Colette reveal how lesbian depictions were not merely about sexuality or art but addressed a host of social and political anxieties. Beginning with an analysis of censorship of lesbian themed novels between 1885 and 1895, I demonstrate the randomness of censorship and its failure to stem the growing number of lesbian depictions. This chapter is followed by an investigation of the role of racial and ethnic othering of the lesbian in French literature as a means to discuss French fears of contamination from its colonies and perceived threats from other world powers. Lesbian characterizations not only gestured to concerns about "Frenchness" and the health of the State, but they also linked sexuality with space. The literary accounts linking lesbian circulation with certain public spaces helped to reconfigure urban landscapes in Paris. The last chapter discusses ways in which both literature and the public lives of bisexual and lesbian authors challenged preconceived notions about marriage and its privileged status as the nec plus ultra of social relationships. Ultimately, I contend that lesbian history in France was not as invisible or non-existent as previously believed, but that in fact, the lesbian representation played an important role in the French imaginary as a means of discussing contemporary social anxieties.
In the last decade, Franco-Moroccan directors have begun to explore culturally taboo and unrepres... more In the last decade, Franco-Moroccan directors have begun to explore culturally taboo and unrepresented sexual communities within Morocco. This article examines how two pioneering films, Abdellah Taïa'sSalvation Armyand Nabil Ayouch'sMuch Loved, contribute to an emerging cultural politics in the Arab-speaking world that is reframing marginalized or invisible sexualities. While these films address issues of sexual tourism, incest, and prostitution, among others, the focus of this article is on the films’ critiques of internalized homophobia, sexual tourism, and the sociopolitical power structures that occlude, marginalize, or shame those males outside of the heterosexual matrix. Analyzing the films’ portrayal of the semiotics of forbidden desire, internalized homophobia, and the circulation and spatialization of queer sexualities in Morocco, this article argues thatSalvation ArmyandMuch Lovedcomplicate our understanding of Arab masculinities and add to a growing queer visibili...
... Luibhéid, Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border (Minneapo-lis: University of Minn... more ... Luibhéid, Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border (Minneapo-lis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002); Luibhéid and Lionel Cantú Jr., eds ... Paris, then follows with three chapters on the works of Romaine Brooks, Claude Cahun/Marcel Moore, and Suzy Solidor, teasing ...
Since Justin O'Brien's 1949 article" Albertine the Ambiguous,&quot... more Since Justin O'Brien's 1949 article" Albertine the Ambiguous," which examined the importance of sexuality in Proust's corpus, most scholarly investigation has discussed male homosexuality in À la recherche du temps perdu. 1 Proust's more robust development of ...
... Joseph Bristow's Oscar Wilde and Modern Culture: The Making of a Legend brings together ... more ... Joseph Bristow's Oscar Wilde and Modern Culture: The Making of a Legend brings together a dozen essays, most of which are devoted to illustrating ... Turning to the ways that Wilde has mattered to later artists, Lizzie Thynne writes about the career of Claude Cahun, a brave and ...
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