Sometimes I envision a broad-scope historical understanding of the dynamics of gender and sexuality as being like a collage of scraps of colored paper. Each individual book or article has a specific take on the question, and they don't always align with each other, but as each is pasted in place, a larger picture develops that is independent of the precise nature of each piece of paper. And--of course--I must never lose sight of the fact that the person pasting them in place (that is, me) has a vision for the overall work that affects how the collage is put together. History is never simple and coherent. We must move back and forth between standing at a distance to see that composed picture and zooming in to read the writing on the individual scraps.
With this post, I'm caught up on the rather large set of articles I'd managed to write up in advance. I've been working on a fascinating book, which I'll post in smaller pieces (though probably not one chapter at a time, as the chapters are very short). Then I have three more books on US topics lined up. One thing I'm finding is that even in books specifically focusing on American queer history, there's a lot of reliance on British material and examples. It makes me curious about the overall similarities and differences between the British and American lesbian experiences have been (during the centuries when both existed to compare). I don't feel like I'm there quite yet, but it's a note to jot down in my outline for the book project.
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