This month I've started a "featured readers" series for Sapphic Crossings, featuring people who have purchased the book and plan to use it in their teaching, their research, or both! If you're interested in being a "featured reader," please let me know, as I'm always eager to hear about others' research on topics relating to female cross-dressing.
Dr. Fiona Ritchie is our second featured reader for March. Here is a little bit about her and how she'll be using Sapphic Crossings.
FYI She is standing in front of an artwork by Adamo Tiseo. Very cool! “I am a theatre historian with particular interests in gender and eighteenth-century performance and my work often explores the many ways in which actresses employed cross-dressing in their careers. I am looking forward to learning more from Dr Klein’s book about how actresses like Charlotte Charke and Peg Woffington fit into a broader history of women’s cross-dressing in the period. I am also excited to teach Sapphic Crossings in my graduate seminar at McGill University on eighteenth-century cross-dressing, which explores women who dressed as men (and men who dressed as women!) both on stage and off. The book will be required reading!” Thanks, Fiona! Don't forget you can purchase my book from the UVA Press website or from Amazon in either paperback or ebook format or request it for your library! UWO Today Press Release for Sapphic Crossings. Full Contact Nerd podcast interview. Book Talk on YouTube for Women's HERstory Month @ UWO. Sapphic Crossings Facebook page.
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As I mentioned in the podcast interview, I was first introduced to the topic of female cross-dressing in eighteenth-century literature in a graduate seminar on the eighteenth-century novel. We also read works from popular print culture like The Female Husband by Henry Fielding. I was stunned and excited to see so much gender non-conformity in the past! I had to know more.
The image above is an illustration of the whipping of Mary/George Hamilton, aka the "Female Husband"--an image that I found while conducting research for my dissertation. The crazy thing is that the image is from 1813 by Isaac Cruikshank--while Hamilton's story appeared 60 years earlier! As I continued my research for the dissertation, I was really struck by how popular images are of female cross-dressers. This image and 8 others made it into my book, and I'm so grateful that I was able to include so many amazing images. This topic is really the gift that keeps on giving. I'll always be thankful that I pursued a topic I am truly passionate about, one that intrigues me, because, in the end, it really has been 10 years since I started my dissertation research! To learn more, listen to the podcast or check out my Women's History Event lecture, as recorded on YouTube. |
AuthorUla Lukszo Klein is the author of Sapphic Crossings, and this blog provides a sneak peek into the book, as well as related content. Archives
April 2021
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