Rethinking Sexuality

In this collection of provocative essays, historians and literary theorists assess the influence of Michel Foucault, particularly hisHistory of Sexuality, on the study of classics. Foucault's famous work presents a bold theory of sexuality for both ancient and modern times, and yet until now it has remained under-explored and insufficiently analyzed. By bringing together the historical knowledge, philological skills, and theoretical perspectives of a wide range of scholars, this collection enables the reader to explore Foucault's model of Greek culture and see how well his interpretation accounts for the full range of evidence from Greece and Rome. Not only do the essays bring to light the assumptions, ideas, and practices that constituted the intimate lives of men and women in the ancient Mediterranean world, but they also demonstrate the importance of theHistory of Sexualityfor fields as diverse as Greco-Roman antiquity, women's history, cultural studies, philosophy, and modern sexuality.The essays include "SituatingThe History of Sexuality" (the editors), "Taking the Sex Out of Sexuality: Foucault's Failed History" (Joel Black), "Incipit Philosophia" (Alain Vizier), "The Subject in Antiquity after Foucault" (Page duBois), "This Myth Which Is Not One: Construction of Discourse in Plato'sSymposium" (Jeffrey S. Carnes), "Foucault'sHistory of Sexuality: A Useful Theory for Women?" (Amy Richlin), "Catullan Consciousness, the 'Care of the Self,' and the Force of the Negative in History" (Paul Allen Miller), "Reversals of Platonic Love in Petronius'Satyricon"(Daniel B. McGlathery), and an essay fromDislocating Masculinity(Lin Foxhall).

David H. J. Larmour is Associate Professor of Classics and Paul Allen Miller is Associate Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature, both at Texas Tech University Charles Platter is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Georgia