"Employing a critically powerful methodology, Alan Stewart examines a field of authors and texts that, within the history of sexuality, is largely terra incognita. In Close Readers, he argues forcefully for a notion of the closet as a politicized 'transactive space,' where negotiations take place that are every bit as political as those that occur in public."—Bruce R. Smith, Georgetown ... Read moreUniversity "An intelligent discussion that uncovers some surprising ways in which humanism and sodomy—two seemingly distinct social discourses—existed in supplemental exchange and tension. Writing in a vivid style, Alan Stewart adds a bulk of insights to the growing debates about the history of sexuality. His book will be invaluable to literary scholars, historians, gay and lesbian theorists, and readers generally interested in the social and textual deployment of eroticism in the early modern period."—Gregory W. Bredbeck, University of California, Riverside Show Less