Ventriloquized Voices

Ventriloquized Voicesis a fascinating examination of the appropriations of the feminine voice by male authors. In an historical and theoretical study of English texts of the early modern period, Elizabeth Harvey looks at the transvestism at work in the texts which purport to be by women but which are in fact written by men. The crossings of gender in these ventriloquized works reveals the construction of sexuality, gender identity, and power in English Renaissance society, illuminating as it does the discourses of patronage, medicine, madness, and eroticism. The author brilliantly juxtaposes such canonical works as John Donne'sAnniversariesand Spenser'sFaerie Queenewith pamphlets on transvestism, midwifery books, and treatises on gynecology and hysteria. By interrogating the fashioning of gender within a broad range of Renaisssance culture,Ventriloquized Voicesinvestigates not only the relationship between men, women, andlanguage, but also crucial twentieth-century feminist debates such as essentialism and the female voice. This is a powerful and original work. It will be of vital interest to scholars and students of the Renaissance, as well as a wide range of feminist readers.