Masquerade and Identities: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Marginality

Where does identity lie in masquerade, or contrariwise, where does masquerade lie in identity? This collection of essays explores the role of the mask in constructing and expressing marginalized identities, and in so doing, it calls attention to the "nature" of identity and its relationship to outward manifestations of itself. The essays span a range of disciplines and cultures, from gender studies to visual art to fashion theory and from American to Israeli to German, and investigate such themes as illegitimate birth, lesbian and fetish fashions, Jewish folk theatre, women's face masks of 17th century England and 18th century France, theCarnivalefool, and cross-dressing inThe Crying Game.