Reviews for How to do the history of homosexuality

The average rating for How to do the history of homosexuality based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-01-06 00:00:00 Carol Riseing Halperin revives the constructionalist viewpoint of (homo)sexuality through a geneological study of conscious same-sex erotic desire in Ancient Greece and other ancient traditions in order to denaturalize heterosexuality claims to universality and normality. Halperin challenges the idea that there is a singular phenomenon of homosexuality and shows how homonormativity organizes the social production of desire and self. Homosexuality is a modern construction, which doesn't mean that there was no same-sex object desire in the past, but that it was radically different from the way we perceive it now. I don't know how to distill everything I read into a concise post. My mind is blown. However, it is a bit repetitive because Halperin essentially put together a collection of his previously published essays, and there are certain chapters that repeat literally the same sentences from other chapters, so as a book, it doesn't flow as smoothly and would've benefitted from some more concision and editing.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-19 00:00:00 Constance Dangelo I'm tempted to give this four not five stars only because it's so very repetitive, even for a collection of previously published essays. Otherwise, though, it's brilliant -- complicated, thoughtful, surprising, insightful, illuminating. Halperin incorporates classical studies, especially literary classical studies, and critical theory into his history of sexuality. His theoretical engagement, however (mostly with Foucault and Eve Sedgwick; otherwise he sticks more to historical and literary scholarship) never lead him away from the exceptional clarity and simplicity of his prose, which is an immense pleasure to read.