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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky
Birthdate: 1950-05-02
Date of death: 2009-04-12
Gender: female
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Dayton, Ohio, USA
Place of death: New York, New York, USA
Cause of death: breast cancer
Places of residence: New York, New York, USA
Education: Cornell University (B.A.|1971)
Yale University (MA|Ph.D|1975)
Occupations: poet
artist
literary critic
teacher
Relationships: Kosofsky, Rita (parent)
Hertz, Neil (teacher; friend)
Sedgwick, Hal (spouse)
Organizations: City University of New York Graduate Center
Duke University
Amherst College
Boston University
Hamilton College
Awards and honors: Brudner Prize (2002)
American Philosophical Society (2006)
David R. Kessler Award (1998)

Members

Reviews

Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity… by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

I was tempted to give this a lower rating because of the tendency toward academic jargon and deconstruction, but slogging through those (for me) less pleasant passages was worth it in the end. The cumulate experience of this text really was one of "reparative reading" in the best sense.

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andyinabox | 1 other review | Jan 17, 2024 |

The Weather in Proust (Series Q) by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

A Buddhist reading of Proust's obsession with reincarnation, atmospheric disturbances, and the way he handles and textualizes refreshment and surprise; bringing Proust into dialogue with Cavafy's poetry to discuss the interplay between desire, pedagogy, and the act of writing; Sedgwick's assessment of queer theory today and an urge—knowing she was soon to die—for a reassessment of Hocquenghem's work; all of these pieces then hinge around the personal as revolutionary, making art as a means of leaving pieces of oneself behind, and how suffering, transcending, and becoming aware of one's limitations and one's own mortality all inform the act of reading and the theoretical scope of any given project. The last chapter, Sedgwick's personal reflections as her end grew nearer, is harrowing just as it is enlightening. The world has lost a pioneering and truly radical intellect.… (more)

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proustitute | 1 other review | Apr 2, 2023 |

Epistemology of the Closet by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

What I found most impressive in this work of literary criticism was the close readings of novels by Melville, Wilde, Proust, James, and Thackery. The considerations of cultural studies leaned a bit more into academic jargon than I could appreciate, but the book held my interest nonetheless.

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jwhenderson | 2 other reviews | Jan 7, 2023 |