Historicizing Early Modern Sexualities
ENGL 349
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 350, CHUM 345 |
| Course Cluster and Certificates: Queer Studies, Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Certificate |
This course will examine recent historical and theoretical approaches to the history of sexuality in early modern English literature (ca. 1580-1680). Our focus will be the historical construction of sexuality in relation to categories of gender, race, religion, and social status in a variety of sources, both literary and nonliterary, verbal and visual, including poetry, plays, masques, medical treatises, travel narratives, and visual media. Topics covered include intersecting constructions of the sexed/gendered/racialized body; diverse sexual practices; sexual identities prior to the homo/hetero divide; and the histories of pornography and masturbation. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: ENGL201 |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CSCT)(ENGL)(FGSS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Primary Texts:
Nicholas Culpepper, OF THE CLITORIS
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, LOVE'S CURE
William Shakespeare, VENUS AND ADONIS
Christopher Marlowe, HERO AND LEANDER, EDWARD II
Michel de Montaigne, OF FRIENDSHIP
John Lyly, GALLATHEA
Margaret Cavendish, THE CONVENT OF PLEASURE
John Donne, SAPHO TO PHILAENIS
Pietro Aretino, THE LICENTIOUS SONNETS
Michel Millot, THE SCHOOL OF VENUS, OR THE LADIES DELIGHT
Secondary Texts:
Valerie Traub, THE RENAISSANCE OF LESBIANISM AND THINKING SEX WITH THE EARLY MODERNS
Alan Bray, HOMOSEXUALITY IN RENAISSANCE ENGLAND
Madhavi Menon ed. SHAKESQUEER
Katherine Park, THE REDISCOVERY OF THE CLITORIS
Thomas Laqueur, SOLITARY SEX: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF MASTURBATION, AND MAKING SEX
Ian Frederick Moulton, THE PREHISTORY OF PORNOGRAPHY
Rachel Maines, THE TECHNOLOGY OF ORGASM
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Examinations and Assignments:
Short papers, oral presentation, and one final research paper
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Permission of instructor approval will be granted by the instructor during pre-registration through the Electronic Portfolio. Click "Add to My Courses" and "To request a POI electronically, click here" to submit your request.
Students wishing to enroll should email the instructor a paragraph describing their
interest in the topic of the class and listing any related coursework they have done.
This course contributes to the following English Department requirements: British Literature, Literary History I, Theory, elective. It fulfills the Research Option eligibility requirement for senior thesis writers.
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| Instructor(s): Korda,Natasha Times: ...W... 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: CFH106; |
Permission of Instructor Required
Enrollment capacity: 15 | Permission of instructor approval will be granted by the instructor during pre-registration through the Electronic Portfolio. Click "Add to My Courses" and "To request a POI electronically, click here" to submit your request. |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 2 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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