Same-sex Sexuality in Later Medieval English Culture by Tom Linkinen

Scholars familiar with the field may well be able to transcend imperfect terminology, but this book is also a hugely valuable tool for undergraduates and other less-experienced researchers, who may be more easily misled into an assumption of equivalence between modern and medieval conceptualizations of sex. Linkinen’s argument in favor of “comprehensible yet not too misleading concepts from our time” is not quite convincing while comprehensibility is crucial in a nonacademic context (hence the value of the LGBT History Month initiative), “not too misleading” is surely relative. “Sexuality,” I would argue, inevitably carries the residue of those inaccurate connotations. includes connotations of sexual identities and also communities fundamentally situated in the framework of modern, rather than medieval culture” (p. As he rightly notes, the term “homosexuality. For some scholars, the definition of “sexuality” favored by Linkinen-used here to denote “the whole variety of sexual acts and desires towards and between persons belonging to the same sex”-has been controversial (p. Jordan’s scrutiny of the concept of “sodomy” and Carolyn Dinshaw’s seminal application of queer theory to the medieval period). Bullough, and Ruth Mazo Karras) and those who have provided usefully focused studies of smaller areas (including but not limited to Mark D. It should be highly recommended for teaching purposes and for those new to the field, and even experienced sexual historians are likely to find at least one unfamiliar reference or fresh interpretation within these pages.Īs his impressive bibliography shows, Linkinen’s work builds on work by scholars who have attempted similarly compendious treatments of the subject (chief among them John Boswell, James Brundage, Vern L. In addition to a wide-ranging engagement with other scholars, the book is particularly valuable as a collation of primary sources relevant to this area of study. Tom Linkinen offers a near-comprehensive overview of what he convincingly demonstrates was “the manifoldness of later medieval English considerations of same-sex sexual deeds and thoughts” (p. Same-Sex Sexuality in Later Medieval English Culture is a rigorous yet warm-hearted book that provides an excellent systematic guide to a variety of possible conceptualizations of, and reactions to, same-sex sexual desire, sexual activity, and love. Reviewed by Kit Heyam (University of Leeds) Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2014. Same-Sex Sexuality in Later Medieval English Culture.Ĭrossing Boundaries: Turku Medieval and Early Modern Studies Series.

Same-sex Sexuality in Later Medieval English Culture by Tom Linkinen