Description
Book SynopsisIn 1892, in the broad daylight of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, a middle class woman named Alice Mitchell slashed the throat of her lover, Freda Ward, killing her instantly. Local, national, and international newspapers, medical and scientific publications, and popular fiction writers all clamoured to cover the ensuing "girl lovers" murder trial.
Trade Review“A book to die for! Theoretically sophisticated, yet written with clarity and elegance,
Sapphic Slashers opens whole new worlds of understanding about sexuality, gender norms, racial injustice, violence, and the complex ways they are connected. Full of passion and intelligence, it made me think in fresh new ways about issues of great importance. Duggan’s is an amazing intellect.”—John D’Emilio, coauthor of
Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America“Duggan seamlessly combines cultural theory with analyses of material conditions and demonstrates a breathtaking command of American cultural institutions—the mass press, the judicial systems, the medical literature. The book is not only smart about the interconnections between gender, sex, race, class, and nation, but is also lucid, making a good read.”—Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, author of
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community“In this stunningly coherent and compelling account of the development of ‘American modernity,’ Duggan captures our interest with the sensational tale of lesbian love murder but then insists that we read this tale through turn-of-the-century debates over racial violence and against the backdrop of the medicalization of homosexuality.
Sapphic Slashers has ‘classic’ written all over it.”—Judith Halberstam, author of
Female Masculinity“What Duggan does in this original and moving book is take a murder case from 1890’s Memphis and make of it a prism through which to illuminate American modernity. Her method depends less on an account of the murder or of the judicial procedure that followed it than on an analysis of the many narratives—of lesbian love and sex and madness—that the case occasioned. Juxtaposing these narratives to narratives of lynching, Duggan produces a
tour-de-force of historical understanding.”—Henry Abelove, Wesleyan University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I Murder in Memphis
1. Girl Slays Girl 9
2. A Feast of Sensation 32
3. Habeas Corpus 61
4. Inquisition of Lunacy 87
Part II Making Meanings
5. Violent Passions 123
6. Doctors of Desire 156
7. A Thousand Stories 180
More Than Love: An Epilogue 193
Appendix A: Hypothetical Case 201
Appendix B: Letters 213
Notes 233
Bibliography 281
Index 299
