"Premodern Sexualities" offers rigorous new approaches to current problems in the historiography of sexuality. From queer readings of early modern medical texts to transcribing and interrogating pre-modern documents of sexual transgression, the contributors bring together current theoretical discourses on sexuality while emphasizing problems in historicist interpretation of early textualizations of sexuality. "Premodern Sexualities" clarifies the contributions literary studies can make--through its emphasis on reading strategies--to the historiogrphy of sexuality.
Editors Louise Fradenburg and Carla Freccero construct a genealogy for the history of sexuality, sexual practices and sexual identities, by expanding the recent abundance of work in the history of sexuality, most notably popularized by John Boswell's "Same-Sex Unions in Pre-modern Europe." Expanding on a special issue of the GLQ which explored the role of pleasure in the construction of narratives about "premodernity" and "modernity," Fradenburg and Freccero call for a rethinking of the categories of history and sexuality in ways that mutually transform each other in the much needed encounter between historicism and queer theory.
"Premodern Sexualities" is organized into sections that address some of the most significant concerns in sexuality studies today, with essays by scholars from a wide range of literay and historical disciplines. Jonathan Goldberg, Ruth Karras, Bruce Holsinger and many others contribute essays in "The Erotics of Conquest," "Medicine and the Law," and "Sexuality and Sanctity."
Contributors include: David Boyd, Maria Carrion, Richard Corum, Lorraine Daston, Simon Gaunt, JonathanGoldberg, Bruce Holsinger, Ruth Karras, Kathryn Lavezzo, Karma Lochrie, Katherine Park, Patricia Parker, Jose Piedra, and Elizabeth Pittenger

Premodern Sexualities offers rigourous new approaches to current problems in the historiography of sexuality. From queer readings of early modern medical texts to transcribing and interrogating pre-modern documents of sexual transgression, the contributors bring together current theoretical discourses on sexuality while emphasizing problems in historicist interpretation of early textulaiztions of sexualtity. Premodern Sexualities clarifies the contributions literary studies can make - thorugh its emphasis on reading strategies - to the historiography of sexuality.
Editors Louise Fradenburg and Carla Freccero construct a genealogy for the history of sexuality, sexual practices and sexual identities. By expanding the recent abundance of work in the history of sexuality, Fradenburh and Freccero call for a rethinking of the categories of history and sexuality in ways that mutually transform each other in the much- needed encounter between historicism and queer theory.