The Epistemology
of the Closet by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, covered a wide range of topics
relating to the homosexual and heterosexual binaries. The section in which she
spoke of literature within the context of homo- and heterosexuality suggested
an interesting theory questioning the interpretation of some central literary
figures, such as Shakespeare, Socrates and Proust. This section primarily
intrigued me because of my English background as it is the degree I will be
receiving in June. I have taken courses in lesbian and gay literature as well
as an endless amount of courses discussing “heterosexual” literature, through an
expansive time period. Sedgwick’s thoughts on the ideas of sexual orientation
within literature as well as of the authors themselves made me consider the
implications of the work I have been engaged in for the past four years and all
my life.
Sedgwick
writes, “It is with these complications that the relation between lesbian and
gay literature as a minority canon, and the process of making salient the
homosocial, homosexual, and homophobic strains and torsions in the already
existing master-canon, becomes especially revealing,” (51). This struck me,
because having taken courses on both subjects, but never one course that
encompasses both. It made me question the idea of separating the two into
separate fields, therefore acknowledging that separation, creating a
preconceived notion that the two are not linked, when in fact, they are
inherently intertwined.
It is not simply the idea that there was queer sexuality within the works of
those referenced above, as at least in Shakespeare’s case, there is evidence to
support the probability of queer identities within his plays and certain
sonnets. It is the idea that these two forms of literature are separate, when
in fact their commonalities should bring them together. It was a requirement of
my degree to take certain literature classes, none of which discussed queer
literature or even discussed the idea of queer identities within the texts we
read. I elected to take a course in gay and lesbian literature, and in that
class we focused on texts that explicitly depicted gay and lesbian
relationships with no room to debate any thought of an alternative orientation.
When most English courses focus on a specific time period or theme it would be
simple to incorporate texts that discussed both homo- and heterosexual
relationships or to explore the possibility to create discourse about
‘heterosexual’ texts with a queer understanding.
When
looking through some of Shakespeare’s work, Sonnet 20 and 126, Henry V, As You
Like It, Twelfth Night, Othello; to go beyond Shakespeare and consider Dickens’
A Tale of Two Cities. I have encountered essays that theorize the relationship
of Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, (A Tale of Two Cities) as more than a
brief acquainted relationship, but a distant one sided love; of course, this possibility
is never considered as it is assumed that the text is heterosexual, due to the
lack of generalized homosexual behaviors. As Sedgwick writes, “Same-sex genital
relationships may have been perfectly common during the period under discussion—but
since there was no language about them, they have been completely meaningless,”
(52); meaningless as well as ignored and without consideration.
In multiple situations I
have suggested the idea of same-sex relations within the works of Shakespeare,
Dickens, George Herbet, John Donne, and various others, but those notions are
often dismissed as an “interesting reading’, or “I wouldn’t go so far”, but why
not go that far? The interpretation of these texts as possibly queer seems to
be taboo, when in truth the real intended interpretation is unknown, so why not
consider a queer reading?
It would be easy to have
discourse on the ideas that support the possibility of queer identities being
incorporated into the “master-canon”, therefore stripping queer literature of
its identity as a minority-canon, as it is heavily ingrained within widely
taught and appreciated texts.
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