Lesbianism in literature has been dealt with rather indirectly
in the past. Editors have led readers to the "artistry" of a work
containing lesbianism, emphasizing instead the literary history and
historical context of the work rather than the representations of
lesbianism. The editor for Colette's "The Pure and the Impure, "
for instance, affirms that Colette has a knowledge of a "strange
sisterhood," but assures readers she has never strayed from the
"normal."
In the groundbreaking "A Lure of Knowledge, " Judith Roof
demonstrates that representations of lesbian sexuality occupy
specific locations or positions in the arguments, subject matter,
and rhetoric of Western European and American literary criticism.
She examines the political context of representations: how lesbian
sexuality is used as a signifier an why it appears when and where
it does.
Roof argues that attempts to depict or explain lesbian sexuality
spur anxieties about knowledge and identity. In reaction to and
denial of these anxieties, lesbian sexuality is represented in
film, literature, theory, and criticism as foreplay, as simulated
heterosexuality, as erotic excess, as joking inauthenticity, as
artful compromise, or as masculine mask in a specific repertoire of
neutralization and evasion. Challenging the heterosexism of film
theory and feminist theory, this book analyzes the rhetorical use
of lesbian sexuality. Roof explores a range of discourses, from the
woks of such authors as Anais Nin, Olga Broumas, Julia Kristeva,
Jane Rule, Luce Iriguray, and Sigmund Freud, to films such as
"Emmanuelle, Desert Hearts, Entre Nous, " and "I've Heard the
Mermaids Singing, " to professional tennis.
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