Edward II and a Literature of Same-sex Love : The Gay King in Fiction 1590-1640 / Michael G. Cornelius.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cornelius, Michael G.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Edward II, King of England, 1284-1327--In literature.

Edward.

Edward II, King of England, 1284-1327.

Homosexuality in literature.

English literature--Middle English, 1100-1500--History and criticism.

English literature.

English literature--Middle English.

Literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

ix, 291 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : Lanham, Maryland : Lexington Books, 2016.

Summary:

When one sees the name Edward II, one also sees his same-sex loves; this correlation between Edward and sexuality has become ingrained into our public recall of history. This text explores the discourses of sexuality that surround Edward II in Renaissance-era works by Marlowe, Drayton, Hubert, Cary, and Niccols, arguing that, as a result of this very public conversation, Edward II emerges as a unique construction of an identity based on same-sex desire - the veritable once (and future) gay king.

Contents:

1. Sexuality as silence : representing Edward II in medieval English literature

2. Sexuality as identity : a king, a lover, and a crisis of identity in Christopher Marlowe's Edward II

3. Sexuality as history : understanding Michael Drayton's obsession

4. Sexuality as (flawed) nature : "Let Edward be the subject of thy pen:" Augustinian character and contradiction in Sir Francis Hubert's The historie of Edward the Second

5. Sexuality as disease : identification and the role of "defense" in Elizabeth Cary's The history of the life, reign, and death of Edward II

6. Sexuality as (political, moral, cultural) exemplum? : the strange case of Edward II in Richard Niccols's Mirror for magistrates.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9781498534581

1498534589

OCLC:

953708468