{"title":"Cosmetics, Whiteness, and Fashioning Early Modern Englishness","authors":"Josie Schoel","doi":"10.1353/sel.2020.0000","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines a series of letters and gifts exchanged between Elizabeth I, Melike Safiye Sultan, and her kira, or serving woman, Esperenza Malchi to investigate the ways in which the formation of cosmetics culture depended on transcultural contact. In the final known letter, Malchi writes to Elizabeth with the intent of acquiring English cosmetics for the Ottoman harem. By examining the letter alongside early modern beauty manuals and the materiality of Elizabeth’s cosmeticized whiteness, manufactured from foreign imports, I reveal the hybridity that was ever a part of the construct of Englishness.","PeriodicalId":45835,"journal":{"name":"STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1500-1900","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2020-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1500-1900","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/sel.2020.0000","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:This article examines a series of letters and gifts exchanged between Elizabeth I, Melike Safiye Sultan, and her kira, or serving woman, Esperenza Malchi to investigate the ways in which the formation of cosmetics culture depended on transcultural contact. In the final known letter, Malchi writes to Elizabeth with the intent of acquiring English cosmetics for the Ottoman harem. By examining the letter alongside early modern beauty manuals and the materiality of Elizabeth’s cosmeticized whiteness, manufactured from foreign imports, I reveal the hybridity that was ever a part of the construct of Englishness.
期刊介绍:
SEL focuses on four fields of British literature in rotating, quarterly issues: English Renaissance, Tudor and Stuart Drama, Restoration and Eighteenth Century, and Nineteenth Century. The editors select learned, readable papers that contribute significantly to the understanding of British literature from 1500 to 1900. SEL is well known for thecommissioned omnibus review of recent studies in the field that is included in each issue. In a single volume, readers might find an argument for attributing a previously unknown work to Shakespeare or de-attributing a famous work from Milton, a study ofthe connections between class and genre in the Restoration Theater.