This book is a bit more on the "literary criticism" and theoretical side than I'm generally looking for. It's a fascinating read, but somewhat less useful for research purposes. Although the text itself was of marginal usefulness for the Project, the bibliography offered a lot of interesting leads for new publications to review.
LHMP
Blog entry
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 111 (previously 35d) - Emily Dickinson Goes to the Movies
(Originally aired 2019/06/22 - listen here)
(partial transcript, full transcript is pending)
I'm very aware of how the content of the LHMP tends to revolve around white, Christian, western European defaults. I try to counter that tendency by seeking out publications outside that academic gravity well. I think of it as a "gravity well" because of the way authors and publications link to and lead to each other in connected ways, building a body of shared interests that reinforce each other. When I find new publications by searching the bibliographies of work I've already covered, I'm absorbing all the biases--both explicit and implicit--of the authors I've already covered.
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 112 (previously 35e) - By Her Pen She Conquers by Catherine Lundoff - transcript
(Originally aired 2019/06/29 - listen here)
My girlfriend pointed me to the following interesting article on the historic and social context of Anne Lister, specifically examining the promotional claim (for the series Gentleman Jack) that she was "the first modern lesbian."
The 19th Century Lesbian Made for 21st Century Consumption by Jeanna Kadlec
“Thus Yde, daughter of Florent of Aragon, married Olive, daughter of Othon the emperor of Rome.”
OK, I confess that the blog title is unabashed click-bait. But the story behind it is deeply fascinating and ultimately satisfying. The image of 19th century "romantic friends" as involving flowery, sentimental language that is purely conventional in content and not to be taken as *gasp* implying an erotic relationship is eroded a bit every time a collection of private records such as this comes to light. Not to say that all "romantic friends" can be assumed to include sexual relationships, but that such a possibility should never be categorically excluded.
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 108 (previously 35a) - On the Shelf for June 2019 - Transcript
(Originally aired 2019/06/01 - listen here)
Welcome to On the Shelf for June 2019.
I say this in the text of the entry below, but really I consider this is the big take-away for this book: if you intend to set a queer story in mid-16th to mid-18th century England, and you aren't already fully steeped in the textual evidence available for that time and place, drop everything you're doing and buy this book. (No, I don't get kick-backs. Even the buy-link is to the publisher, not to Amazon.) That's it. That's everything I have to say.
I was excited to hear about this book because material on Jewish topics has been sadly lacking in my research materials. Alas, it's still sadly lacking. This collection is quite extensive in scope and nature but there is very little material of lesbian relevance, and what there is adds little new information. If you know someone who's interested in researching male homoerotic experiences in western Jewish history, I think it would be a valuable resource. I suspect that if a work of this type had focused specifically on queer female experiences, there might be more to dig up.
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