Description
Book SynopsisA literary and cultural history of the intimate space of the eighteenth-century closet-and how it fired the imaginations of Pepys, Sterne, Swift, and so many other writers Long before it was a hidden storage space or a metaphor for queer and trans shame, the closet was one of the most charged settings in English architecture. This private room
Trade Review"Finalist for the Mavis Gallant Award for Non-Fiction, Quebec Writers’ Federation"
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The Closet is a major accomplishment that promises to be the definitive word on its subject."
---Beth Kowaleski Wallace, Eighteenth-Century Studies"Bobker’s study succeeds in illuminating a fascinating topic with a wealth of detail pulled from various disciplines. . . it also shows the way monographs may go beyond a reconstruction of the past to include examining what this version of the past means for the present."
---Rachel Ramsey, Eighteenth-Century Fiction"Providing a careful look at 18th-century historical and fictional texts, Bobker expands contemporary and commonplace ideas of the closet, its early use, and how it was initially developed. . . . Recommended." * Choice Reviews *
"[This book] is a kind of cabinet of curiosities in itself, a curated collection to delight, educate and intrigue the reader and including in its wide scope both architectural and social history, queer theory and classic English literature."
---Sue Nicholson, pepysdiary.com"Smart, enjoyable, and ground-breaking."
---Mary Peace, ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830
