A regular experience in the random nature of how I encounter and summarize articles is the sense of whiplash when I think, “Wait, haven’t we already dealt with this question?” And, of course, I’m thinking of other publications that came after the one I’m reading. Diggs’ analysis is in correspondence with some of the early challenges to Faderman’s view of romantic friendship. I have to keep reminding myself that it was published a quarter of a century ago, and the ideas being presented here were fairly new at the time.
I sometimes try to envision a “family tree” of work on lesbian history—something that traces not only the chronology of the publications, but the specific chains of connection showing what each is reacting and responding to. (It might be an amusing project, but mostly it’s a dangerous rabbit-hole. One I need to avoid at all costs!)
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