As I began to research the role of queerness in gothic literature for my senior thesis, I noticed one name that kept coming up: Eve Sedgwick. Although I had read some of Sedgwick’s work before and knew of her important contributions to queer studies, I was surprised to find that she had also written about the gothic.
Eve Sedwick was a scholar who became best known as one of the founders of queer theory. Sedgwick received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Cornell University in 1971, and a Ph.D. in English from Yale in 1975. Her doctoral thesis, which focused on gothic literature, was titled The Coherence of Gothic Conventions. She later expanded upon her thesis to create a book of the same name, which analyzed the intersection of the gothic with modern understandings of gender and homophobia. Following her graduate studies, Sedgwick struggled for nearly ten years to find a teaching position before finally becoming a professor at Amherst College. Once there, she made considerable efforts in establishing a curriculum for gender and sexuality studies. It was at this time that she began to gain academic recognition following the publication of Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire in 1985, and Epistemology of the Closet in 1990. These books are her most widely known publications and are also considered foundational texts to the field of queer studies. Sedgwick, writing during the height of the AIDS epidemic, was deeply influenced by her experience of the crisis. She wrote about the role sexuality plays in creating social meanings, as well as the dangers of homophobia and ignorance. I believe her writing on both queer studies and the gothic will be a valuable place to start my research for my senior thesis.
Works Cited
“Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.” Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick | Life of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, evekosofskysedgwick.net/biography/biography#:~:text=Sedgwick%20concentrated%20on%20English%20literature,and%20became%20a%20lifelong%20friend. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
This is really interesting! It’s good to know that Sedgwick worked on both gothic and queer studies – it allows you to view her work as the intersection of the two. I wonder if when you’re reading, you can see how her earlier thinking about the gothic influences her queer studies work or vice versa, how her interest in queerness possibly shines through in her early gothic work. Either way, it definitely helps validate your thinking on the role of queerness in gothic literature.