Queering the Literary: Theories and Fictions
Matthew Hart profile
R 12-3
The title of this course avoids the nominative "queer" in order to foreground a governing issue in the course: does the rise of queer studies in the academy -- as well as the shift (for some) from "lesbian and gay" to "queer" -- signify a movement from an ontologically based understanding of the field toward a performative one? If so, what are the political and intellectual implications of this change? In the most general sense, what we will be considering is the problem of connotation in reading literary and other cultural texts as it comes into play around queer interpretations. We will be reading recently produced queer theories, fictions produced by lesbians, gays, bisexuals and other self-identified or historically recognized queers. We will be considering the fictiveness of theories and theories of fiction. Authors include: Dorothy Allison, Dennis Cooper, James Baldwin, Pat Califia, Bob Flanagan, D.A. Miller. Teresa de Lauretis, Elizabeth Jolley, Jeannette Winterson. Seminar participants will be expected to write a 20-25 page critical essay that makes an original contribution to the field, make one oral presentation, and write several short response papers. Visitors are welcome at the first meeting but I will not accept auditors except for A.B.D. students by permission.
updated 2007-03-14
