Queer Reading At Princeton

Seriously, that’s what they call it. The course description for “Queer Literatures: Theory, Narrative, and Aesthetics” reads: “In this course, we will both read from various trajectories of queer literature and engage what it means to read queerly. We will consider the historical etymology of the term queer and think through its affiliate terms and acronyms: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans. We will investigate how discourses of power and institutions of normativity have come up against queer bodies, narratives, and politic–and how such encounters are historically situated. As the class reads through texts that range across both region and time, we will pay close attention to the ways in which desire, gender, and sexuality are queerly told.”

The Sample reading list includes:

Willa Cather, The Professor’s House
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1
James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room
Eli Claire, Exile and Pride
Myriam Gurba, Mean
Tommy Pico, IRL

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