Eve Sedgwick

( photo: Jay Muhlin ) I’ve been ruminating on a longer post about Eve’s work. She’s had a real influence not only on my scholarship, but also on my creative writing manuscript, for her book, A Dialogue on Love . But, I’m remiss in not posting about her loss sooner than later. So, here’s a taste of the NYT piece on her life and work: Ms. Sedgwick broke new ground when, drawing on feminist scholarship and the work of the French poststructuralist Michel Foucault, she began teasing out the hidden socio-sexual subplots in writers like Charles Dickens and Henry James. In a 1983 essay ... Read Full Story

Odd timing when considered in relation to the Amazon.com situation this week. I 1st read Epistemology of the Closest in Grad School & have returned to it over the years whenever I've needed a refresher before teaching Melville, Wilde or James... or just whenever I needed to refresh my theory stuff in general. She was a good person. The obit in The Nation is fantastic. The New Yorker obit is brief but nice also. The obit in The Advocate is brief and a bit cold, but interesting none-the-less. Read Full Story

I am saddened to note the passing of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick this past Sunday. Sedgwick was a faculty member at my school, but more importantly, she was an irreplaceable contributor to academia, and queer theory. I never had the privilege of taking a class with Professor Sedgwick, but I do teach from her texts, Epistemology of the Closet, and Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire in my literary theory class. This is a great loss- for those who knew her personally, and for those of us, continually inspired by her brilliance. Read Full Story

Here is a caption. Eve Sedgwick , queer theory founder, died on April 12, 2009, at the age of 58. Her books such as Epistemology of the Closet are considered groundbreaking works of literary theory. From an obituary at The Advocate : Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, a prominent theorist who is often cited as one of the founders of queer theory, died on April 12. She was 58. Sedgwick was reportedly diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991, prompting her book A Dialogue on Love . Sedgwick taught English at several institutions including Boston College; the University of California, Berkeley; and Duke University, where she was a ... Read Full Story