ENGL 165 Queer Fictions
This class will read examples of queer Anglophone fiction across a broad range of historical periods and geographical regions. Beginning with Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, through Nella Larsen’s Passing, Djuna Barnes’s Nightwood, and E.M. Forster’s Maurice, we will explore the intersection between sexuality and other social structures such as race and class. We will build on this intersectional foundation to examine the legacies of colonialism, gender-policing, and marital normativity in contemporary global queer novels such as Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night, Akwaeke Emezi’s Pet, Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Tree, and Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy. Over the course of the semester we will supplement our readings of novels with various theoretical texts that address the social and political contours of queer literature and culture.