”We might understand writing to be queer because of the identities or object choices of its characters (what Sedgwick terms ‘representational’), or because of the way a text works to unsettle ‘epistemolog[ies]’, by deploying queer approaches to temporality perhaps, or because of the ‘experimental linguistic’ approach it takes. Queer is a designation of ‘open[ness and] possibilit[y]’.” (Parsons 137)
Throughout this class, we will approach the subject of queerness from two directions. First, by looking at writing that may be conceived of as queer in the variety of manners Alexandra Parsons lists in the quotation above. Second, by practising modes of reading that ‘queer’ texts that do not overtly feature queer characters or subject matter. Overall, this class intends to provide students with a solid introduction to queer literature, queer theory and queer ways of reading.
Text cited: Alexandra Parsons. ”Queer.” The Routledge Companion to Twenty-First-Century Literature. Routledge, 2018, pp. 136-146.
- Lehrende/r: Laura Schmitz-Justen