Edward II and a Literature of Same-Sex Love
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A01=Michael G. Cornelius
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Michael G. Cornelius
automatic-update
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=DSA
Category=DSBC
Category=DSBD
Category=JBSJ
Category=JFSK2
Christopher Marlowe
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
Edward II
Elizabeth Cary
English literature
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Francis Hubert
Gaveston
Gay History
Gay Identity
Gay Renaissance
Language_English
Michael Drayton
PA=Available
Price_€100 and above
PS=Active
softlaunch
Product details
- ISBN 9781498534581
- Weight: 617g
- Dimensions: 157 x 239mm
- Publication Date: 21 Oct 2016
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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The narrative re-tellings of the life, reign, and death of the English King Edward II (reigned 1307–1327) present a unique opportunity for scholars of sexuality in the early modern era. This is because the works of authors like Christopher Marlowe, Michael Drayton, Sir Francis Hubert, Elizabeth Cary, and Richard Niccols were all inspired by the public, cultural memory fashioned from Edward’s same-sex love affair with Piers Gaveston. As such, each of them presents a particular representation of and a specific discourse about male-male sexual relations in the Renaissance. In other words, what these works present is a concentrated body of literature about same-sex love in the early modern era: works that openly and frankly explore the possible origins of the love, the reasons and causes for it; works that explore the ramifications of male-male romantic relationships; works that explore the sexual politics and sociocultural dynamics of same-sex romantic partnerships; and works that describe and denote same-sex love from an English Renaissance perspective. This study looks at each of the major Renaissance texts about Edward II and examines the means through which each text understands and analyzes the nature of male-male same-sex love. From Marlowe’s crafting of a lover-identity for Edward to Drayton’s obsession with Marlowe’s version of (gay) history; from Hubert’s Augustinian construction of Edward’s nature to Cary’s identification with the fallen king to Niccols’ inspired exemplum, what each of these works demonstrates is that the “love that dare not speak its name” would not be silenced, at least not in the case of Edward and Gaveston. When one sees the name Edward II, one also sees his same-sex loves. The correlation has become ingrained into our public recall of history. Thus, as far as the world is concerned, Edward II was—and ever will be—the gay king.
Michael G. Cornelius is chair of the Department of English and Communications at Wilson College
