Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
| Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | Eve Kosofsky May 2, 1950 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | April 12, 2009 (aged 58) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Academic, author, essayist, critic, poet |
| Genre | Literary criticism |
| Notable works | Epistemology of the Closet |
| Spouse | Hal Sedgwick (m. 1969; her death 2009) |
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (May 2, 1950 – April 12, 2009) was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory (queer studies), and critical theory. Sedgwick published several books considered "groundbreaking" in the field of queer theory, including Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire (1985), Epistemology of the Closet (1990), and Tendencies (1993). Her critical writings helped create the field of queer studies. Her works reflect 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.
Drawing on feminist scholarship and the work of Michel Foucault, Sedgwick uncovered what she claimed were concealed homoerotic subplots in writers like Charles Dickens and Henry James. Sedgwick argued that an understanding of virtually any aspect of modern Western culture would be incomplete or damaged if it failed to incorporate a critical analysis of modern homo/heterosexual definition. She coined the terms "homosocial" and "antihomophobic."
Eve Kosofsky was raised in a Jewish family in Dayton, Ohio and Bethesda, MD. She received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her Ph.D from Yale University. At Cornell she was among the first women to be elected to live at the Telluride House. She taught writing and literature at Hamilton College, Boston University, and Amherst College. She held a visiting lectureship at University of California, Berkeley and taught at the School of Criticism and Theory when it was located at Dartmouth College. She was also the Newman Ivey White Professor of English at Duke University, and then a Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
...
Wikipedia