Leander: Gay Elves of Ravensbrook

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The term ‘homosexual’ of course didn’t exist in the early modern period, and its absence is used by Foucault to argue that the phenomenon of a distinct homosexual identity (as opposed to homoerotic actions and attractions of various kinds) is a nineteenth-century invention. ‘As defined by the ancient civil or canonical codes’, Foucault writes, ‘sodomy was a category of forbidden acts; their perpetrator was nothing more than the juridicial subject of them.’ But in the nineteenth century, the medical discourse of sexuality changed all that: ‘Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphrodism of the soul. The sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual was now a species ’. See The History of Sexuality, vol. 1: Introduction, trans. Robert Hurley (New York: Random House, 1978) 43. Foucault’s extreme nominalism has led many subsequent scholars to use ‘sodomy’ as the general term for same-sex attraction in the early modern period, on the grounds that ‘homosexuality’ is anachronistic. But even scholars who recognize the difficulty of treating ‘homosexuality’ as a trans-historical category find it impossible to do without it; see Alan Bray, Homosexuality in Renaissance England (London: Gay Men’s Press, 1982) 13–32, and Bruce R. Smith, Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare’ s England: a Cultural Poetics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991) 14. For a persuasive critique of the view that homosexuality is a relatively recent (that is, nineteenth-century) invention, see Joseph Cady, ‘Masculine Love”, Renaissance Writing, and the “New Invention” of Homosexuality’, Homosexuality in Renaissance and Enlightenment England: Literary Representations in Historical Context, ed. Claude J. Summers (New York: Haworth, 1992) 9–40. For an intelligent summary of the controversy, see Michael B. Young, James VI and I and the History of Homosexuality (Basingstoke: Macmillan Press — now Palgrave Macmillan, 2000) 3–6, 36–50. Fred B. Tromly, Playing with Desire: Christopher Marlowe and the Art of Tantalization (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998) 16–17. The source of both images is Geffrey Whitney’s A Choice of Emblems (1586). I loved the first 3/4 of this book with the focus on those struggles and the friendship that grew between him and Leander. Time spent basking in the summer sun, sharing fish over a fire, hiking through the wilderness, sharing warmth during a winter storm. Silence, contemplation, companionship.

The drag community became a second family to Cass, and a welcome respite from some disapproving classmates at school. “When you’re called a ‘fag’ and everything in the book, it’s so draining, and when I was able to put on a dress and a wig and lip-sync a song I love, and have people clapping for me, why would I give that up? I felt so at home on 4th street, in that chosen family I was accepted in, that I didn’t want to leave.”Axton, Axton, Axton… what are we going to do with you? Ah, maybe Leander knows, yes… it appears that he does. Edward A. Snow, ‘Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and the Ends of Desire’, in Two Renaissance Mythmakers: Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson, ed. Alvin Kernan, Selected Papers from the English Institute ns 1 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977) 70–110. What a charming and delightfully cute "gay-for-you-my-wolf" story this turned out to be. I don't think I've read a shifter romance that the feeling of half animal half human been so palpable and present. This was a tender sweet wolfs, or a very lone werewolfs, own love-tale. Renaissance poet Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) began an expansive version of the narrative. His story does not get as far as Leander's nocturnal swim, and the guiding lamp that gets extinguished, but ends after the two have become lovers ( Hero and Leander (poem));

problems. soooooo many problems. and yet—somehow—this book took me so far out of my own head i forgot about the sekret pain i've been nursing for months. This was very much a GFY story, with Leander being quite the ladies man when he meets Axton. The romance is a major slow-build, with none of the insta-love/MINE reactions that are so common in gay shifter stories. I loved the progression and pace of Axton and Leander’s relationship. In fact, I enjoyed the aspects of their growing friendship even more than the romantic feelings that ultimately sprang from it. This story didn’t delve too deeply into the romantic aspect of their love, but that’s what sequels are for! All references are to Michael Keefer’s edition of the A version (1604). The relationship between the two early texts of Doctor Faustus (A 1604 and B 1616) is a complicated question in textual history that impinges on many other concerns: the authorship of the play, its theatrical history, its governing theatrical assumptions, and so on. Recent scholarship has shown that the arguments advanced by Greg (in DoctorFaustus: 1604–1616, ed. W.W. Greg [Oxford: Clarendon, 1950]), to the effect that B is the more authoritative text and that A is a faulty memorial reconstruction of B, are no longer tenable. The relevant evidence is cited by Keefer (Introduction xi-xxi, lx-lxix) and discussed at great length by Eric Rasmussen (in A Textual Companion to Doctor Faustus [Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993]), who concludes that A is ‘the text with primary authority’ while B ‘appears to be at many removes from Marlowe’s hand’ (93). For an ingenious interpretation of the doctrinal and cultural differences between the two versions, see Leah S. Marcus, Unediting the Renaissance: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Milton (London: Routledge, 1996) 38–62. Sexuality. (n.d.). In Oxford English dictionary. Retrievedfrom https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/177087?redirectedFrom=sexuality#eid Axton is a lone wolf, and he likes it that way. So when Leander shows up and becomes his neighbor, he's quite annoyed. He only gets to see Leander in summers, when the man leaves the city to unwind. Axton shows everything to Leander in the area, they go hiking and fishing, and they slowly become friends, while Axton is trying to hide his secrets.A Magnificent Distraction? The Drag Cult for Nazi-Era Film Diva Zarah Leander. Andres Mario Zervigon. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art. 2015. Leander resident Winter Licht, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, said they loved having the opportunity to wear rainbows and not be scared about it. Another student reported to Cass’s mother that their teacher, who happened to be a leader in a local religious group, had begun to antagonize him in conversations within the group. “It turns out he was using me, by name, as an example of a gay person who he believed would burn in Hell.” The comments continued even after Cass’s mother alerted school administrators, and the teacher was later let go. Marlowe utilizes satirical language and comical similes to express Leander’s unwavering pursuit of Hero. An initial example is Leander’s endeavor to convince Hero, (also referred to as) Venus’ nun—an example of ironic humor—that remaining chaste will lead to a life of discord and bitterness. In attempting to impress this notion on Hero he states, “Like untuned golden strings all women are, / Which, long time lie untouched, will harshly jar” (229-30). The simile “like untuned golden strings” is Leander’s attempt to persuade Hero that her virginity is not something she should covet. Leander tells her to embrace sex, and to not remain like the untouched strings, forever emitting harshness due to never being sexually intimate. His attempts center upon the enticement of manipulation in the same manner as an instrument—woman—should be handled and possessed. Building upon this theme of withholding form sexual delight in favor of remaining pure, Leander begins to build a stronger case as to why Hero’s actions are not only frivolous, but also depraved.