Onegin again

[Rebecca Jane Stanton]

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere wrote:

>These comments, it seems to me, demonstrate that Onegin's latent 
>homosexuality - or his gayness, if you prefer - is detectable even by 
>non-psychoanalysts.
>
Or that biographical criticism is alive and well and critics use it 
liberally in interpreting the work of Tchaikovsky!  I have no opinion 
one way or the other on Onegin's sexuality (in Pushkin's original or 
Tchaikovsky's opera), but Tchaikovsky's sexuality seemed very much on 
the table in the commentary you were so kind as to excerpt.

I note, certainly not by way of reproof but for anyone on the list to 
whom it may be useful information, that "homosexuality" and "gayness" 
are not interchangeable as critical terms; "gayness" encodes a political 
identity generally thought of as available only after the 1969 Stonewall 
riots.  So technically neither Pushkin's Onegin nor Tchaikovsky's can be 
"gay," though either or both could be homosexual (and I suppose a 
modern-dress production of Onegin could present him as being both).

Regards to the list,
RJS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------