Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores how representations of intimacy between women included both a sexualized model of the "lesbian" tribade and an "idealized" model that portrayed female friendship as devoid of sexual expression.
Trade Review"The work's merits . . . .lie in its meticulous research, judicious criticism and lucid analysis. This is a worthy contribution to the history of female-female relations." --
British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies"
Invisible Relations breaks important new ground in the study . . . of female intimacy and homoeroticism. . . . An insightful, intelligent book that will challenge how scholars have traditionally perceived female intimacy and female communities in the Enlightenment." --
Choice"A work of impressive scholarship. . . . of solid value in presenting new material to scholars of the history of sexuality and in cultural studies. Written in a precise yet accessible style, the book is a pleasure to read." --
Modern PhilologyTable of ContentsIntroduction Part I. Sexualized Models of Female Intimacy: 1. The Tribade, the Hermaphrodite and othe 'lesbian' figures in medical and legal discourse 2. Representations of the Tribade in libertine literature Part II. Idealized Models of Female Intimacy: 3. 'L'Amour Galant' and 'Tendre Amitie;': love and friendship outside the bonds of marriage 4. Female intimacy and the question of 'lesbian' identity: rereading the female friendship poems of Katherine Philips Part III. The Politics of Intimacy: 5. Female intimacy and the problem of female communities: salons, satire, and the mystery of the 'Pre;cieuses' 6. Regulating the 'real' in fictional terms: the (auto)biography of the Tribade in erotic and documentary texts Notes Index.
