<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Ah, I see. Was that really all they were looking for? That does indeed sound silly. I'm not trying to be a hair splitter, here, just thinking I'd rather consider the decades of feminist and queer scholarship that have made significant contributions to our conversations and if anything have bent over backwards not to be accused of reducing everything to the sex lives of literary lights. With the caveat of course that, well, a little prurience in the archive once in a while, if of course the facts bear it out, can make for not an unpleasant afternoon ;)</div><div><br></div><div>Jean<br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Aug 19, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Sarah M. Hall <<a href="mailto:smhall123@yahoo.co.uk">smhall123@yahoo.co.uk</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32024">Jean,</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32026"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32027" dir="ltr">The 'queer theorists' are not named, but the author was talking about the 'feminist and lesbian feminist historians travelling to rural Maine to sift through Vernon Lee’s archived letters for that moment of truth – the "proof" that she was a lesbian because she had sex with another woman'.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32144" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32145" dir="ltr">Sarah<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32023"><span></span></div><br> <blockquote id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32073" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32072" style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32071" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32070" dir="ltr"> <hr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32146" size="1"> <font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32147" face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Jean Mills <<a href="mailto:millsj7@gmail.com">millsj7@gmail.com</a>><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Sarah M. Hall <<a href="mailto:smhall123@yahoo.co.uk">smhall123@yahoo.co.uk</a>> <br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> VWOOLF listserv <<a href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu">vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu</a>> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, 19 August 2015, 18:51<br> <b id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32149"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32148" style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Vwoolf] Was she or wasn't she?<br> </font> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32074" class="y_msg_container"><br><div original_target="https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf" id="yiv4368066298"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32076"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32075" dir="ltr">hmmmm, I'm going to have to ask for a little more to go on than that... who are these alleged queer theorists who have fallen in to said trap? Also, there are many things we don't ask of "heterosexual identity" because it's already operating from the luxurious position of power and credentials, its validation is assumed... and, perhaps, this is part of this author's point?? it's difficult to tell from the passage, but I'd question the throwing under the bus implied in the "Many queer theorists" phrase.<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32150"><br clear="none"></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32151">Jean</div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439995354933_32152" class="yiv4368066298gmail_extra"><br clear="none"><div class="yiv4368066298gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 1:36 PM, Sarah M. Hall <span dir="ltr"><<a saprocessedanchor="true" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:smhall123@yahoo.co.uk" target="_blank" href="mailto:smhall123@yahoo.co.uk">smhall123@yahoo.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote class="yiv4368066298gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yiv4368066298yqt4242938689" id="yiv4368066298yqt23925"><div><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><br clear="none"><span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span>A propos of nothing, I have just found these words in a book I'm editing for Edinburgh University Press called Women and the Gothic. I am inclined to agree with Ardel Haefele-Thomas, and it frees us from a lot of prurient investigations.<br clear="none"></span></div><div><br clear="none"><span></span></div><blockquote><div dir="ltr"><span>Of course, one’s sexual orientation does not necessarily need to hinge on the fact of sex. Many queer theorists have fallen into the trap of needing to ‘prove’ that someone had sexual encounters to be queer. We certainly do not ask that heterosexual identity be validated in the same way.<br clear="none"></span></div></blockquote><div><br clear="none"><span></span></div><div><span></span></div><br clear="none"><br clear="none"> </div></div></div><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">
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<br clear="none"></blockquote></div><br clear="none"><br clear="all"><div><br clear="none"></div>-- <br clear="none"><div class="yiv4368066298gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Jean Mills<br clear="none">Associate Professor<br clear="none">The Department of English<br clear="none">John Jay College/CUNY<br clear="none">524 West 59th Street, Room 7.63.12<br clear="none">New York, NY 10019<br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div>AUTHOR OF <br clear="none"><div><a original_target="https://ohiostatepress.org/books/book%20pages/mills%20virginia.html" saprocessedanchor="true" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://ohiostatepress.org/Books/Book%20Pages/Mills%20Virginia.html">https://ohiostatepress.org/Books/Book%20Pages/Mills%20Virginia.html</a><br clear="none">
</div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>To Order: </div><div><br clear="none"></div><div><a original_target="https://ohiostatepress.org/staff/wucarip/projects/1187.pdf" saprocessedanchor="true" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://ohiostatepress.org/Staff/wucarip/projects/1187.pdf">https://ohiostatepress.org/Staff/wucarip/projects/1187.pdf</a></div><div><br clear="none"></div><div><br clear="none"></div><div>212.237.8706<br clear="none"><a original_target="mailto:jemills@jjay.cuny.edu" saprocessedanchor="true" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:JEMILLS@JJAY.CUNY.EDU" target="_blank" href="mailto:JEMILLS@JJAY.CUNY.EDU">JEMILLS@JJAY.CUNY.EDU</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div></div></div></div></div>
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