Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Sedgwick in 2007
Sedgwick in 2007
BornEve Kosofsky
(1950-05-02)May 2, 1950
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
DiedApril 12, 2009(2009-04-12) (aged 58)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation
  • Academic
  • author
  • critic
  • poet
Alma materCornell University (BA)
Yale University (MA, PhD)
GenreLiterary criticism
Notable worksEpistemology of the Closet Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire
Spouse
Hal Sedgwick
​
(m. 1969)​

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (/ˈsɛdʒwɪk/; May 2, 1950 – April 12, 2009) was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory, and critical theory. Sedgwick published several books considered groundbreaking in the field of queer theory,[1] and her critical writings helped create the field of queer studies, in which she was one of the most influential figures.[2][3][4] Sedgwick's essays became the framework for critics of poststructuralism, multiculturalism, and gay studies.[5]

In her 1985 book Between Men, she analyzed male homosocial desire and English literature. In 1991, she published "Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl", an article that received attention as part of an American culture war and criticism for associating the works of Jane Austen with sex. She coined the terms homosocial and antihomophobic.[6][7][8]

Sedgwick argued that an understanding of virtually any aspect of modern Western culture would be incomplete if it failed to incorporate a critical analysis of modern homo/heterosexual definition.[3][4] Drawing on feminist scholarship and the work of Michel Foucault, Sedgwick analyzed homoerotic subplots in the work of writers like Charles Dickens and Henry James. Her works reflected an interest in a range of issues, including queer performativity, experimental critical writing, the works of Marcel Proust, non-Lacanian psychoanalysis, artists' books, Buddhism and pedagogy, the affective theories of Silvan Tomkins and Melanie Klein, and material culture, especially textiles and texture.

  1. ^ "Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's "Between Men" at Thirty: Queer Studies Then and Now". The Center for the Humanities. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  2. ^ Edwards, Jason (2009). Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 1–17, 107–121. ISBN 978-0-415-35845-3.
  3. ^ a b Jagose, Annamarie. "Queer Theory." New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, edited by Maryanne Cline Horowitz, vol. 5, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005, pp. 1980-1985. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed 13 June 2018.
  4. ^ a b Murphy, Erin & Vincent, J. Keith. "Introduction." Criticism, vol. 52 no. 2, 2010, pp. 159-176. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/crt.2010.0034
  5. ^ Grimes, William (2009-04-15). "Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, a Pioneer of Gay Studies and a Literary Theorist, Dies at 58". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  6. ^ Creekmur, Corey K. "Homoeroticism and Homosociality." Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered History in America, edited by Marc Stein, vol. 2, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004, pp. 50-52. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed 13 June 2018.
  7. ^ Klosowska, Anna. "Homoaffectivity, Concept." Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender, edited by Fedwa Malti-Douglas, vol. 2, Macmillan Reference USA, 2007, pp. 710-712. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed 13 June 2018.
  8. ^ Pellegrini, Anne (8 May 2009). "Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 13 June 2018.