On the Queerness of Early English Drama: Sex in the Subjunctive

by Tison Pugh

Overview

Often viewed as theologically conservative, many theatrical works of late medieval and early Tudor England nevertheless exploited the performative nature of drama to flirt with unsanctioned expressions of desire, allowing queer identities and themes to emerge. Early plays faced vexing challenges in depicting sexuality, but modes of queerness, including queer scopophilia, queer dialogue, queer characters, and queer performances, fractured prevailing restraints. Many of these plays were produced within male homosocial environments, and thus homosociality served as a narrative precondition of their storylines.

Building from these foundations, On the Queerness of Early English Drama investigates occluded depictions of sexuality in late medieval and early Tudor dramas. Tison Pugh explores a range of topics, including the unstable genders of the York Corpus Christi Plays, the morally instructive humour of excremental allegory in Mankind, the confused relationship of sodomy and chastity in John Bale’s historical interludes, and the camp artifice and queer carnival of Sir David Lyndsay’s Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis. Pugh concludes with Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi, pondering the afterlife of medieval drama and its continued utility in probing cultural constructions of gender and sexuality

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487538873
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	02/01/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Tison Pugh is Pegasus Professor in the Department of English at the University of Central Florida.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Quem Quaeritis? Queerness in Early English Drama

Part One: Queer Theories and Themes of Early English Drama

1. A Subjunctive Theory of Dramatic Queerness

2. Themes of Friendship and Sodomy

Part Two: Queer Readings of Early English Drama

3. Performative Typology, Jewish Genders, and Jesus’s Queer Romance in the York Corpus Christi Plays

4. Excremental Desire, Queer Allegory, and the Disidentified Audience of Mankind

5. Sodomy, Chastity, and Queer Historiography in John Bale’s Interludes

6. Camp and the Hermaphroditic Gaze in Sir David Lyndsay’s Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis

Conclusion: Theatrical Medievalisms, Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi, and the Queer Legacy of Early English Drama

Works Cited

What People are Saying About This

Garrett P.J. Epp

"On the Queerness of Early English Drama fills a critical gap: no other full-length monograph has as yet dealt with early English drama from a queer perspective or indeed in relation to sexuality more generally."

Christina Fitzgerald

"On the Queerness of Early English Drama is a wonderful, original, persuasive, and much needed intervention in early drama studies. Insightful in both its parts and its whole, this book builds on itself — it's not merely or only an application of a theory in four parts, but a cohesive whole."

Editorial Reviews

"This book has secured a place among the monographs that have shaped the field of early modern queer historiography and drama."

—Goran Stanivukovic, Saint Mary’s University, Renaissance and Reformation

"Pugh’s well-researched and convincingly argued book demonstrates not only the value and relevance of the medieval theatrical tradition but also its long-suppressed queerness."

—Nils Clausson, The Gay & Lesbian Review

"Tison Pugh’s On the Queerness of Early English Drama: Sex in the Subjunctive is a welcome addition to queer studies scholarship in early English drama studies. It reminds us how very queer early English drama is and provides fresh avenues of exploration for those of us working in this field."

—Jeffery G. Stoyanoff, Pennsylvania State University Altoona, Early Theatre

"For its fine scholarship, Pugh’s book stands beside related studies such as Mario DiGangi’s The Homoerotics of Early Modern Drama and James Bromley’s Clothing and Queer Style in Early Modern English Drama. For its accessible language and skillful application of current critical queer theory, this title will appeal to students at all levels."

—G. Sikorski, Anne Arundel Community College, CHOICE

" On the Queerness of Early English Drama fills a critical gap: no other full-length monograph has as yet dealt with early English drama from a queer perspective or indeed in relation to sexuality more generally."

—Garrett P.J. Epp, Professor Emeritus of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta

" On the Queerness of Early English Drama is a wonderful, original, persuasive, and much needed intervention in early drama studies. Insightful in both its parts and its whole, this book builds on itself – it’s not merely or only an application of a theory in four parts, but a cohesive whole."

—Christina Fitzgerald, Professor of English Literature, University of Toledo

From the Publisher

"Pugh's well-researched and convincingly argued book demonstrates not only the value and relevance of the medieval theatrical tradition but also its long-suppressed queerness."

The Gay & Lesbian Review - Nils Clausson

"Tison Pugh's On the Queerness of Early English Drama: Sex in the Subjunctive is a welcome addition to queer studies scholarship in early English drama studies. It reminds us how very queer early English drama is and provides fresh avenues of exploration for those of us working in this field."

Early Theatre - Jeffery G. Stoyanoff

"For its fine scholarship, Pugh's book stands beside related studies such as Mario DiGangi's The Homoerotics of Early Modern Drama and James Bromley's Clothing and Queer Style in Early Modern English Drama. For its accessible language and skillful application of current critical queer theory, this title will appeal to students at all levels."

CHOICE - G. Sikorski

"This book has secured a place among the monographs that have shaped the field of early modern queer historiography and drama."

Renaissance and Reformation - Goran Stanivukovic