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Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
by Ibi ZoboiEdited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black. “A powerful collection that opens the reader’s eyes to the breadth and diversity of contemporary experience in America” June Sarpong, author of DIVERSIFY Black is male, Black is female, Black is straight, Black is gay, Black is urban, Black is rural, Black is rich. And poor. Black is mixed-race, Black is immigrants, Black is more. There are countless ways to be BLACK ENOUGH. Featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling American black authors writing for teens today, Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black. Whether you are in America, the UK, or anywhere across the globe, this powerful collection of stories will remind you of our shared humanity. With an Introduction by June Sarpong, author of DIVERSIFY Stories from: Renee Watson, Varian Johnson, Leah Henderson, Lamar Giles, Kekla Magoon, Jason Reynolds, Brandy Colbert, Tochi Onyebuchi, Liara Tamani, Jay Coles, Rita Williams-Garcia, Tracey Baptiste, Dhonielle Clayton, Justina Ireland, Coe Booth, Nic Stone and Ibi Zoboi
The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother And Me: An Aristocratic Family, A High-society Scandal And An Extraordinary Legacy
by Sofka ZinovieffFaringdon House in Oxfordshire was the home of Lord Berners, composer, writer, painter, friend of Stravinsky and Gertrude Stein, a man renowned for his eccentricity – masks, practical jokes, a flock of multi-coloured doves – and his homosexuality. Before the war he made Faringdon an aesthete’s paradise, where exquisite food was served to many of the great minds, beauties and wits of the day. Since the early thirties his companion there was Robert Heber-Percy, twenty-eight years his junior, wildly physical, unscholarly, a hothead who rode naked through the grounds, loved cocktails and nightclubs, and was known to all as the Mad Boy. If the two men made an unlikely couple, at a time when homosexuality was illegal, the addition to the household in 1942 of a pregnant Jennifer Fry, a high society girl known to be ‘fast’, as Robert’s wife was simply astounding.After Victoria was born the marriage soon foundered (Jennifer later married Alan Ross). Berners died in 1950, leaving Robert in charge of Faringdon, aided by a ferocious Austrian housekeeper who strove to keep the same culinary standards in a more austere age. This was the world Sofka Zinovieff, Victoria’s daughter, a typical child of the sixties, first encountered at the age of seventeen. Eight years later, to her astonishment, Robert told her he was leaving her Faringdon House.Her book about Faringdon and its people is marvellously witty and full of insight, bringing to life a vanished world and the almost fantastical people who lived in it.
Mislaid: A Novel
by Nell Zink‘Nell Zink is a writer of extraordinary talent and range. Her work insistently raises the possibility that the world is larger and stranger than the world you think you know.’ Jonathan Franzen
Mislaid: A Novel
by Nell Zink‘Nell Zink is a writer of extraordinary talent and range. Her work insistently raises the possibility that the world is larger and stranger than the world you think you know.’ Jonathan Franzen
Mislaid & The Wallcreeper: The Nell Zink Collection
by Nell Zink‘Nell Zink is a writer of extraordinary talent and range. Her work insistently raises the possibility that the world is larger and stranger than the world you think you know.’ Jonathan Franzen Startlingly radical, dazzlingly witty, unlike anything that has come before – these are the two most exciting novels published this year.
TransGothic in Literature and Culture (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature)
by Jolene ZigarovichThis book contributes to an emerging field of study and provides new perspectives on the ways in which Gothic literature, visual media, and other cultural forms explicitly engage gender, sexuality, form, and genre. The collection is a forum in which the ideas of several well-respected critics converge, producing a breadth of knowledge and a diversity of subject areas and methodologies. It is concerned with several questions, including: How can we discuss Gothic as a genre that crosses over boundaries constructed by a culture to define and contain gender and sexuality? How do transgender bodies specifically mark or disrupt this boundary crossing? In what ways does the Gothic open up a plural narrative space for transgenre explorations, encounters, and experimentation? With this, the volume’s chapters explore expected categories such as transgenders, transbodies, and transembodiments, but also broader concepts that move through and beyond the limits of gender identity and sexuality, such as transhistories, transpolitics, transmodalities, and transgenres. Illuminating such areas as the appropriation of the trans body in Gothic literature and film, the function of trans rhetorics in memoir, textual markers of transgenderism, and the Gothic’s transgeneric qualities, the chapters offer innovative, but not limited, ways to interpret the Gothic. In addition, the book intersects with but also troubles non-trans feminist and queer readings of the Gothic. Together, these diverse approaches engage the Gothic as a definitively trans subject, and offer new and exciting connections and insights into Gothic, Media, Film, Narrative, and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
TransGothic in Literature and Culture (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature)
by Jolene ZigarovichThis book contributes to an emerging field of study and provides new perspectives on the ways in which Gothic literature, visual media, and other cultural forms explicitly engage gender, sexuality, form, and genre. The collection is a forum in which the ideas of several well-respected critics converge, producing a breadth of knowledge and a diversity of subject areas and methodologies. It is concerned with several questions, including: How can we discuss Gothic as a genre that crosses over boundaries constructed by a culture to define and contain gender and sexuality? How do transgender bodies specifically mark or disrupt this boundary crossing? In what ways does the Gothic open up a plural narrative space for transgenre explorations, encounters, and experimentation? With this, the volume’s chapters explore expected categories such as transgenders, transbodies, and transembodiments, but also broader concepts that move through and beyond the limits of gender identity and sexuality, such as transhistories, transpolitics, transmodalities, and transgenres. Illuminating such areas as the appropriation of the trans body in Gothic literature and film, the function of trans rhetorics in memoir, textual markers of transgenderism, and the Gothic’s transgeneric qualities, the chapters offer innovative, but not limited, ways to interpret the Gothic. In addition, the book intersects with but also troubles non-trans feminist and queer readings of the Gothic. Together, these diverse approaches engage the Gothic as a definitively trans subject, and offer new and exciting connections and insights into Gothic, Media, Film, Narrative, and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
XOXY: A Memoir (Intersex Woman, Mother, Activist)
by Kimberly M. ZieselmanMeet Kimberly, a regular suburban housewife and mother, whose discovery later in life that she was born intersex fuelled her to become an international human rights defender and globally-recognised activist. Charting her intersex discovery and her journey to self-acceptance, this book movingly portrays how being intersex impacted Kimberly's personal and family life, as well as her career. From uncovering a secret that was intentionally kept from her, to coming out to her family and friends and fighting for intersex rights, her candid and empowering story helps breakdown barriers and misconceptions of intersex people and brings to light the trauma and harmful impact medical intervention continues to have on the intersex community. Written from a non-queer perspective, and filled with much-needed, straightforward information and advice about what it means to be intersex, this is a vital and timely resource for intersex people and their families, as well as the general reader.
Taken for Granted: The Remarkable Power of the Unremarkable (Princeton University Press (WILDGuides))
by Eviatar ZerubavelHow the words we use—and don’t use—reinforce dominant cultural normsWhy is the term "openly gay" so widely used but "openly straight" is not? What are the unspoken assumptions behind terms like "male nurse," "working mom," and "white trash"? Offering a revealing and provocative look at the word choices we make every day without even realizing it, Taken for Granted exposes the subtly encoded ways we talk about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social status, and more.In this engaging and insightful book, Eviatar Zerubavel describes how the words we use--such as when we mark "the best female basketball player" but leave her male counterpart unmarked—provide telling clues about the things many of us take for granted. By marking "women's history" or "Black History Month," we are also reinforcing the apparent normality of the history of white men. When we mark something as being special or somehow noticeable, that which goes unmarked—such as maleness, whiteness, straightness, and able-bodiedness—is assumed to be ordinary by default. Zerubavel shows how this tacit normalizing of certain identities, practices, and ideas helps to maintain their cultural dominance—including the power to dictate what others take for granted.A little book about a very big idea, Taken for Granted draws our attention to what we implicitly assume to be normal—and in the process unsettles the very notion of normality.
Taken for Granted: The Remarkable Power of the Unremarkable (Princeton University Press (WILDGuides))
by Eviatar ZerubavelHow the words we use—and don’t use—reinforce dominant cultural normsWhy is the term "openly gay" so widely used but "openly straight" is not? What are the unspoken assumptions behind terms like "male nurse," "working mom," and "white trash"? Offering a revealing and provocative look at the word choices we make every day without even realizing it, Taken for Granted exposes the subtly encoded ways we talk about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social status, and more.In this engaging and insightful book, Eviatar Zerubavel describes how the words we use--such as when we mark "the best female basketball player" but leave her male counterpart unmarked—provide telling clues about the things many of us take for granted. By marking "women's history" or "Black History Month," we are also reinforcing the apparent normality of the history of white men. When we mark something as being special or somehow noticeable, that which goes unmarked—such as maleness, whiteness, straightness, and able-bodiedness—is assumed to be ordinary by default. Zerubavel shows how this tacit normalizing of certain identities, practices, and ideas helps to maintain their cultural dominance—including the power to dictate what others take for granted.A little book about a very big idea, Taken for Granted draws our attention to what we implicitly assume to be normal—and in the process unsettles the very notion of normality.
Taken for Granted: The Remarkable Power of the Unremarkable (Princeton University Press (WILDGuides))
by Eviatar ZerubavelHow the words we use—and don’t use—reinforce dominant cultural normsWhy is the term "openly gay" so widely used but "openly straight" is not? What are the unspoken assumptions behind terms like "male nurse," "working mom," and "white trash"? Offering a revealing and provocative look at the word choices we make every day without even realizing it, Taken for Granted exposes the subtly encoded ways we talk about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social status, and more.In this engaging and insightful book, Eviatar Zerubavel describes how the words we use--such as when we mark "the best female basketball player" but leave her male counterpart unmarked—provide telling clues about the things many of us take for granted. By marking "women's history" or "Black History Month," we are also reinforcing the apparent normality of the history of white men. When we mark something as being special or somehow noticeable, that which goes unmarked—such as maleness, whiteness, straightness, and able-bodiedness—is assumed to be ordinary by default. Zerubavel shows how this tacit normalizing of certain identities, practices, and ideas helps to maintain their cultural dominance—including the power to dictate what others take for granted.A little book about a very big idea, Taken for Granted draws our attention to what we implicitly assume to be normal—and in the process unsettles the very notion of normality.
Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers: Dialogues With Gay Young Men in the U.S. Military
by Steven ZeelandAmong all the literature published on gays in the military, Steven Zeeland’s first book remains one of a kind. Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers is a raw, unsanitized personal record of conversations the author had with young soldiers and airmen stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Zeeland’s intimate involvement with these men enabled him to document in honest, visceral terms the day-to-day reality of gay military men’s lives and how they work, play, and, in many instances, how the military actually helped them come out. Ironically, despite the military’s antigay policies, these men found that military service placed them in environments where they had to come to terms with their erotic feelings for other men, and sent them overseas to places where they found greater freedom to explore their sexuality than they could have back home. While a few of Zeeland’s buddies were targeted for discharge, most portray an atmosphere of sexually tense tolerance and reveal a surprising degree of openness with straight co-workers and roommates.The 16 fascinating interviews in Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers challenge popular assumptions and stereotypes about gay men in the military and provide significant information on: gay military sexual networks male sexual fluidity in barracks life strategies for survival as a gay or bisexual male in the U.S. military German-American relations attitudes toward the gay banThe casual, conversational structure of Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers makes it a richly entertaining read. No other book provides such a warm and intimate portrait of the lives of young gay soldiers and airmen.Visit Steven Zeeland at his home page: http://www.stevenzeeland.com
Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers: Dialogues With Gay Young Men in the U.S. Military
by Steven ZeelandAmong all the literature published on gays in the military, Steven Zeeland’s first book remains one of a kind. Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers is a raw, unsanitized personal record of conversations the author had with young soldiers and airmen stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Zeeland’s intimate involvement with these men enabled him to document in honest, visceral terms the day-to-day reality of gay military men’s lives and how they work, play, and, in many instances, how the military actually helped them come out. Ironically, despite the military’s antigay policies, these men found that military service placed them in environments where they had to come to terms with their erotic feelings for other men, and sent them overseas to places where they found greater freedom to explore their sexuality than they could have back home. While a few of Zeeland’s buddies were targeted for discharge, most portray an atmosphere of sexually tense tolerance and reveal a surprising degree of openness with straight co-workers and roommates.The 16 fascinating interviews in Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers challenge popular assumptions and stereotypes about gay men in the military and provide significant information on: gay military sexual networks male sexual fluidity in barracks life strategies for survival as a gay or bisexual male in the U.S. military German-American relations attitudes toward the gay banThe casual, conversational structure of Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers makes it a richly entertaining read. No other book provides such a warm and intimate portrait of the lives of young gay soldiers and airmen.Visit Steven Zeeland at his home page: http://www.stevenzeeland.com
The Masculine Marine: Homoeroticism in the U.S. Marine Corps
by Steven ZeelandThis exciting book was listed as #1 on The Advocate’s (ital) bestseller list for December 1996! In The Masculine Marine, author Steven Zeeland records, for the first time ever, what active-duty Marines have to say about what it means to be a man, to be a Marine, and to desire other men. As the foremost surviving icon of traditional masculinity, Marines are often considered the opposite of “gay.” Yet in contemporary gay culture, Marines are stereotyped as likely to play the passive role in sexual encounters with other men. By vividly illustrating some of the startling ways in which gay and Marine attributes can coincide, The Masculine Marine uncovers the wild sexual contradictions built into military hypermasculinity. From ordinary grunts to a major who flies a combat jet, Zeeland’s Marine interviewees provide thoughtful and articulate insight into aspects of this rarely documented culture, including: homoerotic bonding among Marines how gay Marines reconcile their sexual identity with the ethos of “hard” Marine supermasculinity how some Marines eroticize the pain and humiliation of Marine Corps boot camp Marines in all-male pornography male attitudes toward women in the Marine Corps hazing and institutional violence These Marines talk candidly about what motivated them to join the United States’most elite fighting force, and they reveal how becoming Marines has shaped their sexual and gender identities. For the student of gay or military studies or anyone sexually intrigued by men in uniform, The Masculine Marine must reading. Visit Steven Zeeland at his home page: http://www.stevenzeeland.com
The Masculine Marine: Homoeroticism in the U.S. Marine Corps
by Steven ZeelandThis exciting book was listed as #1 on The Advocate’s (ital) bestseller list for December 1996! In The Masculine Marine, author Steven Zeeland records, for the first time ever, what active-duty Marines have to say about what it means to be a man, to be a Marine, and to desire other men. As the foremost surviving icon of traditional masculinity, Marines are often considered the opposite of “gay.” Yet in contemporary gay culture, Marines are stereotyped as likely to play the passive role in sexual encounters with other men. By vividly illustrating some of the startling ways in which gay and Marine attributes can coincide, The Masculine Marine uncovers the wild sexual contradictions built into military hypermasculinity. From ordinary grunts to a major who flies a combat jet, Zeeland’s Marine interviewees provide thoughtful and articulate insight into aspects of this rarely documented culture, including: homoerotic bonding among Marines how gay Marines reconcile their sexual identity with the ethos of “hard” Marine supermasculinity how some Marines eroticize the pain and humiliation of Marine Corps boot camp Marines in all-male pornography male attitudes toward women in the Marine Corps hazing and institutional violence These Marines talk candidly about what motivated them to join the United States’most elite fighting force, and they reveal how becoming Marines has shaped their sexual and gender identities. For the student of gay or military studies or anyone sexually intrigued by men in uniform, The Masculine Marine must reading. Visit Steven Zeeland at his home page: http://www.stevenzeeland.com
Military Trade
by Steven ZeelandA same-sex attraction for soldiers and sailors spans the globe and predates the term “homosexual” by several thousand years. But these days “military chasers” are likely to be seen as doubly incorrect. Most are gay men who pursue straight men. And, many of them do it in public. What continues to motivate so many men to brave arrest, violence, and the scorn of gay leaders who condemn any non-gay homosexual desire as “internalized homophobia”?In Military Trade (now updated to include an expanded photo insert!), Steven Zeeland, author of Sailors and Sexual Identity, The Masculine Marine, and Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers, brings together an edgy, enlightening, and richly entertaining collection of voices with a passion for servicemen, including: a TV talk-show host who pimped Marines to Hollywood stars a heavy metal superstar who dreams of being reincarnated as a Marine boot a women “trapped in a gay man’s body” who seduces Marines online then dominates them in person with strap-on dildos a former Force Recon Marine who complains of being chased by civilians but is now a Marine-chaser himselfBy turns steamy, hilarious, appalling, and deeply moving, Military Trade challenges assumptions about both chaser and chased and poses pointed questions about the wisdom of those who seek to divide the world into “straight” and “gay.” The interviews and essays collected in this book suggest that, paradoxically, for many men the advances of the gay rights movement have actually made it more difficult to form affectional bonds with other men. Gay sex has never been more openly advertised. But the military love of comrades is something that gay life can’t offer. Military Trade offers groundbreaking insight into: the difference between “military chasers” and uniform fetishists why gay men prefer sailors and Marines over soldiers and airmen the surprising range of sexual, “buddy,” and even love relationships “chasers” form with servicemen the nuances of “trade” and civil-military male prostitution what has been overlooked in the “sex panic” debate about men who have sex in public placesFor anyone interested in queer theory, the construction of masculinity, or sex between men outside of gay urban culture--and for anyone who has ever thrilled at the sight of a man in uniform--Military Trade is must reading.
Military Trade
by Steven ZeelandA same-sex attraction for soldiers and sailors spans the globe and predates the term “homosexual” by several thousand years. But these days “military chasers” are likely to be seen as doubly incorrect. Most are gay men who pursue straight men. And, many of them do it in public. What continues to motivate so many men to brave arrest, violence, and the scorn of gay leaders who condemn any non-gay homosexual desire as “internalized homophobia”?In Military Trade (now updated to include an expanded photo insert!), Steven Zeeland, author of Sailors and Sexual Identity, The Masculine Marine, and Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers, brings together an edgy, enlightening, and richly entertaining collection of voices with a passion for servicemen, including: a TV talk-show host who pimped Marines to Hollywood stars a heavy metal superstar who dreams of being reincarnated as a Marine boot a women “trapped in a gay man’s body” who seduces Marines online then dominates them in person with strap-on dildos a former Force Recon Marine who complains of being chased by civilians but is now a Marine-chaser himselfBy turns steamy, hilarious, appalling, and deeply moving, Military Trade challenges assumptions about both chaser and chased and poses pointed questions about the wisdom of those who seek to divide the world into “straight” and “gay.” The interviews and essays collected in this book suggest that, paradoxically, for many men the advances of the gay rights movement have actually made it more difficult to form affectional bonds with other men. Gay sex has never been more openly advertised. But the military love of comrades is something that gay life can’t offer. Military Trade offers groundbreaking insight into: the difference between “military chasers” and uniform fetishists why gay men prefer sailors and Marines over soldiers and airmen the surprising range of sexual, “buddy,” and even love relationships “chasers” form with servicemen the nuances of “trade” and civil-military male prostitution what has been overlooked in the “sex panic” debate about men who have sex in public placesFor anyone interested in queer theory, the construction of masculinity, or sex between men outside of gay urban culture--and for anyone who has ever thrilled at the sight of a man in uniform--Military Trade is must reading.
Sailors and Sexual Identity: Crossing the Line Between "Straight" and "Gay" in the U.S. Navy
by Steven ZeelandIn Sailors and Sexual Identity, author Steven Zeeland talks with young male sailors--both gay- and straight-identified--about ways in which their social and sexual lives have been shaped by their Navy careers.Despite massive media attention to the issue, there remains a gross disparity between the public perception of “gays in the military” and the sexual realities of military life. The conversations in this book reveal how known “gay” and “straight” men can and do get along in the sexually tense confines of barracks and shipboard life once they discover that the imagined boundary between them is not, in fact, a hard line.The stories recounted here in vivid detail call into question the imagined boundaries between gay and straight, homosexual and homosocial, and suggest a secret Pentagon motivation for the gay ban: to protect homoerotic military rituals, buddy love, and covert military homosexuality from the taint of sexual suspicion.Zeeland’s interviews explore many aspects of contemporary life in the Navy including: gay/straight friendship networks the sexual charge to the Navy/Marine Corps rivalry the reality behind sailors’reputations as sexual adventurers in port and at sea men’s differing interpretations of homoerotic military rituals and initiations sex and gender stereotypes associated with military job specialities how sailors view being seen as sex objectsEveryone interested in the issue of gays in the military, along with a general gay readership, gay veterans, and gay men for whom sailors represent a sexual ideal, will find Sailors and Sexual Identity an informative and entertaining read.Visit Steven Zeeland at his home page: http://www.stevenzeeland.com
Sailors and Sexual Identity: Crossing the Line Between "Straight" and "Gay" in the U.S. Navy
by Steven ZeelandIn Sailors and Sexual Identity, author Steven Zeeland talks with young male sailors--both gay- and straight-identified--about ways in which their social and sexual lives have been shaped by their Navy careers.Despite massive media attention to the issue, there remains a gross disparity between the public perception of “gays in the military” and the sexual realities of military life. The conversations in this book reveal how known “gay” and “straight” men can and do get along in the sexually tense confines of barracks and shipboard life once they discover that the imagined boundary between them is not, in fact, a hard line.The stories recounted here in vivid detail call into question the imagined boundaries between gay and straight, homosexual and homosocial, and suggest a secret Pentagon motivation for the gay ban: to protect homoerotic military rituals, buddy love, and covert military homosexuality from the taint of sexual suspicion.Zeeland’s interviews explore many aspects of contemporary life in the Navy including: gay/straight friendship networks the sexual charge to the Navy/Marine Corps rivalry the reality behind sailors’reputations as sexual adventurers in port and at sea men’s differing interpretations of homoerotic military rituals and initiations sex and gender stereotypes associated with military job specialities how sailors view being seen as sex objectsEveryone interested in the issue of gays in the military, along with a general gay readership, gay veterans, and gay men for whom sailors represent a sexual ideal, will find Sailors and Sexual Identity an informative and entertaining read.Visit Steven Zeeland at his home page: http://www.stevenzeeland.com
The Boys Are Kissing (Modern Plays)
by Zak ZarafshanLook, gang, what we need to keep sight of is, this isn't about us. It's not personal...It's about the children.When two 9-year-old boys kiss in the school playground of a small town, two sets of parents are told to 'do something about it' – but neither of them are entirely sure what.Amira is sending inclusive children's books to the school library, whilst her wife Chloe dreams of a kitchen island. Sarah is trying her best not to upset the Mum WhatsApp group, and her husband Matt just really wants to do the right thing – as soon as he can work out what that is. Luckily, here to guide our helpless humans are two cherubic winged guardians of the gays, summonsed to attend to a disturbance in the queer atmos and intervene only where strictly necessary… but where's the fun in being an ethereal being if you can't drop in and cause a scene wearing latex?The Boys Are Kissing is a riotous comedy about angelic intervention, children's birthday parties gone sour, and whether it ever really is 'just about the children', written by 503Five 2019-20 alumni Zak Zarafshan.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Theatre503, London, in January 2023.
The Boys Are Kissing (Modern Plays)
by Zak ZarafshanLook, gang, what we need to keep sight of is, this isn't about us. It's not personal...It's about the children.When two 9-year-old boys kiss in the school playground of a small town, two sets of parents are told to 'do something about it' – but neither of them are entirely sure what.Amira is sending inclusive children's books to the school library, whilst her wife Chloe dreams of a kitchen island. Sarah is trying her best not to upset the Mum WhatsApp group, and her husband Matt just really wants to do the right thing – as soon as he can work out what that is. Luckily, here to guide our helpless humans are two cherubic winged guardians of the gays, summonsed to attend to a disturbance in the queer atmos and intervene only where strictly necessary… but where's the fun in being an ethereal being if you can't drop in and cause a scene wearing latex?The Boys Are Kissing is a riotous comedy about angelic intervention, children's birthday parties gone sour, and whether it ever really is 'just about the children', written by 503Five 2019-20 alumni Zak Zarafshan.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Theatre503, London, in January 2023.
Imaginative Resistance, Queer Fiction and the Law: Same-Sex Desire and the Good Life in Heteronormative Orders
by Aleardo ZanghelliniImaginative Resistance, Queer Fiction and the Law develops a novel account of how heteronormative sociolegal orders undermine the well-being of same-sex attracted people, even when these normative orders may fall short of coercively interfering with their choices. Queer well-being is generally studied from psychological perspectives, through the concept of ‘minority stress.’ Taking four texts of mid-century Anglo-American queer fiction as illustrative case studies, this book argues – in a philosophical rather than a psychological register – that heteronormativity also affects queer well-being in more intangible ways. The central claim is that heteronormativity shackles the imagination: it curtails no less the imaginative reach of authors of queer fiction, than our ability – engaged as we are in projects of self-authorship – to make-believe personal futures in which same-sex intimacy is brought to bear on our well-being. The book’s central claim re-works a concept central to the philosophy of fiction – ‘imaginative resistance’ – and puts it into service of questions raised in moral philosophy. Apart from its political and normative implications – strengthening the case for at least some global gay rights – and from challenging some of queer theory’s orthodoxies, the book also makes contributions to queer literary history, criticism and biography. Drawing on archival material and personal interviews, fresh readings are offered of Charles Jackson’s The Fall of Valor (1946), Gillian Freeman’s The Leather Boys (1961), and Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt (1952) and The Talented Mr Ripley (1955), making a case for their inclusion in the queer literary canon. Imaginative Resistance, Queer Fiction and the Law will appeal to students of literary criticism, queer sociolegal history, law & literature, the philosophy of fiction, and queer theory, politics and ethics.
Imaginative Resistance, Queer Fiction and the Law: Same-Sex Desire and the Good Life in Heteronormative Orders
by Aleardo ZanghelliniImaginative Resistance, Queer Fiction and the Law develops a novel account of how heteronormative sociolegal orders undermine the well-being of same-sex attracted people, even when these normative orders may fall short of coercively interfering with their choices. Queer well-being is generally studied from psychological perspectives, through the concept of ‘minority stress.’ Taking four texts of mid-century Anglo-American queer fiction as illustrative case studies, this book argues – in a philosophical rather than a psychological register – that heteronormativity also affects queer well-being in more intangible ways. The central claim is that heteronormativity shackles the imagination: it curtails no less the imaginative reach of authors of queer fiction, than our ability – engaged as we are in projects of self-authorship – to make-believe personal futures in which same-sex intimacy is brought to bear on our well-being. The book’s central claim re-works a concept central to the philosophy of fiction – ‘imaginative resistance’ – and puts it into service of questions raised in moral philosophy. Apart from its political and normative implications – strengthening the case for at least some global gay rights – and from challenging some of queer theory’s orthodoxies, the book also makes contributions to queer literary history, criticism and biography. Drawing on archival material and personal interviews, fresh readings are offered of Charles Jackson’s The Fall of Valor (1946), Gillian Freeman’s The Leather Boys (1961), and Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt (1952) and The Talented Mr Ripley (1955), making a case for their inclusion in the queer literary canon. Imaginative Resistance, Queer Fiction and the Law will appeal to students of literary criticism, queer sociolegal history, law & literature, the philosophy of fiction, and queer theory, politics and ethics.
The Sexual Constitution of Political Authority: The 'Trials' of Same-Sex Desire (Social Justice)
by Aleardo ZanghelliniWhile there is no shortage of studies addressing the state’s regulation of the sexual, research into the ways in which the sexual governs the state and its attributes is still in its infancy. The Sexual Constitution of Political Authority argues that there are good reasons to suppose that our understandings of state power quiver with erotic undercurrents. The book maintains, more specifically, that the relationship between ideas of political authority and male same-sex desire is especially fraught. Through a series of case studies where a statesman’s same-sex desire was put on trial (either literally or metaphorically) as a problem for the good exercise of public powers, the book shows the resilience and adaptability of cultural beliefs in the incompatibility between public office and male same-sex desire. Some of the case studies analysed are familiar ground for both political/constitutional history and the history of sexuality. The Sexual Constitution of Political Authority argues, however, that only by systematically reading questions of institutional politics and questions of sexuality through each other will we have access to the most interesting insights that a study of these trials can generate. Whether they involve obscure public officials or iconic rulers such as Hadrian and James I, these compelling fragments of queer history reveal that the disavowal of male same-sex desire has been, and partly remains, central to mainstream understandings of political authority.
The Sexual Constitution of Political Authority: The 'Trials' of Same-Sex Desire (Social Justice)
by Aleardo ZanghelliniWhile there is no shortage of studies addressing the state’s regulation of the sexual, research into the ways in which the sexual governs the state and its attributes is still in its infancy. The Sexual Constitution of Political Authority argues that there are good reasons to suppose that our understandings of state power quiver with erotic undercurrents. The book maintains, more specifically, that the relationship between ideas of political authority and male same-sex desire is especially fraught. Through a series of case studies where a statesman’s same-sex desire was put on trial (either literally or metaphorically) as a problem for the good exercise of public powers, the book shows the resilience and adaptability of cultural beliefs in the incompatibility between public office and male same-sex desire. Some of the case studies analysed are familiar ground for both political/constitutional history and the history of sexuality. The Sexual Constitution of Political Authority argues, however, that only by systematically reading questions of institutional politics and questions of sexuality through each other will we have access to the most interesting insights that a study of these trials can generate. Whether they involve obscure public officials or iconic rulers such as Hadrian and James I, these compelling fragments of queer history reveal that the disavowal of male same-sex desire has been, and partly remains, central to mainstream understandings of political authority.