Tomorrow's Parties: Sex and the Untimely in Nineteenth-Century America

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments A confession: the writing of this book was, if sometimes tiring, actually a great deal of fun. It is also true, though, that the period of its composition coincided, for me, with a lot of unforeseen, life-wide turmoil. To the people named here I want to say, first and above all, that the fact of this book existing, rather than not, is outrageously inadequate thanks to you. Your generosity, your brilliance, your unstinting care, and your heroic patience: these all deserve much, much more. Thank you for restoring the possibilities of joy. For sustenance in Maine, intellectual, corporeal, and otherwise, deepest thanks to John Bisbee, Aviva Briefel, Tess Chakkalakal, Brock Clarke, Allison Cooper, Allen Delong, Dallas Dennery, Tim Diehl, Pamela Fletcher, Tim Foster, Paul Franco, David and Lesley Gordon, Cassie Jones, Aaron Kitch, Henry Laurence, Barry Mills, M. Katherine O’Grady, Steve and Heather Perkinson, Elizabeth Pritchard, Marilyn Reizbaum, José Ribas, Jen Scanlon, Kevin Wertheim, and Mark Wethli. Ann Kibbie held my hand through the worst of it—literally—and Frank and Susan Burroughs offered familial care for which there will never be enough thanks. For their acuity, collegiality, and ongoing support I offer thanks to my colleagues in English—as well as Gay and Lesbian Studies and Africana Studies—at Bowdoin College. And thanks, too, to my students, whose eagerness and incisive curiosity have made my understanding of the books considered here sharper than it could otherwise have been. And finally, there is the Bowdoin diaspora, who have for better than a decade now come through with astonishing quantities of love. Leah Chernikoff —and Larry Chernikoff and Allison Beck—Willing Davidson, David Diamond, Tasha Graff, Molly Hardy, Jared Hickman, Matt King, Abby Lord, Chad MacDermid, Frances Milliken, Caitlin Riley, and Nate Vinton: you are all an inspiration and a joy. xii Acknowledgments Speaking of Bowdoin, in May of 2010 I threw a shindig at the college called Tomorrow’s Parties: A Queer Americanist Colloquium. The immense intellectual generosity of the participants not only made the weekend a delight, but galvanized the work of this book. Thanks to Katherine Biers, Elizabeth Freeman, Kara Keeling, Dana Luciano, Molly McGarry, Jordan Stein, and Pamela Thurschwell, as well as to our keynote speaker—who is also my inspiration and ongoing patron saint—Kathryn Bond Stockton. For their support over many years I am grateful as well to Ellis Hanson, Michael Moon, and Mark Seltzer. Thank you also to Eric Zinner, Ciara McLaughlin, David Kazanjian, Elizabeth McHenry, Priscilla Wald, my readers, and everyone at NYU Press for their dedication to this project. Much of Tomorrow’s Parties was written while on leave in and around Chicago in 2009. For their hospitality during those months, often on an epic scale, I thank Jim Arndorfer, Judith Brown, Marcy Dinius, David and Andi Diamond, Kathy Flynn, Karen Gliwa, Ed Koziboski, Julia Rosenwinkel, Lanay Samuelson, Julia Stern, Wendy Wall, and Paula K. Wheeler. Whatever delights came to me then were curated, once more, by John Dorr, whose love built a floor beneath me—and walls, and windows, and rooms richly furnished—when I was sure there was none. A magic similar to the sort worked by John and Karen—the magic of making the world habitable when it seems far otherwise—was made for me by those other friends of my youth, Sandy Zipp and Ilona Miko, and Mark Goble and Elisa Tamarkin, who somehow combined the gentlest care with the fiercest devotion. I do not know what to say of these depths of gratitude other than what I think you know: that even after twenty-plus years of confidences, tears, and mix-CDs, you are dearer to me now than ever. Then, too, there is the extended posse of friends, colleagues, and karaoke co-conspirators in whose company so many of the best ideas of this book were germinated, and to whose example—of keen intelligence wedded to openheartedness—I have long aspired. With a song in my heart, I thank Katherine Biers, Mandy Berry, Sarah Blackwood, Hester Blum, Robert Chang, Jennifer Doyle, Stephanie DeGooyer, Elena Glasberg, Jody Greene, Glenn Hendler, Claire Jarvis, Katherine Lieber, Christopher Looby, Jackie Loss, Heather Love, Donal McQuillian, Sarah Mesle, José Muñoz, Eden Osucha, Masha Raskolnikov, Catherine Rice, Jordana Rosenberg, Caleb Smith, Gustavus Stadler, Pamela Thurschwell, Kyla Wazana Tompkins, Karen Tongson, and Ivy Wilson. Molly McGarry Acknowledgments xiii and Heather Lukes made a home for me, and...