ESH7057 - Queer Theory and Contemporary Fiction - 2023/24

This module will offer an opportunity to study key thinkers and debates in the field of queer theory, while also exploring how sexuality is narrated in contemporary culture. The module will be grounded in theoretical material but alongside this theoretical grounding, the module will consider a number of literary and visual cultural texts. Throughout, we will consider the relationship between cultural texts, politics, and theory, asking: What kind of object is sex and sexuality? What is 'queer' about queer theory? How is queerness narrated in contemporary literature and cultural texts? The module will be structured as four blocks: 'Gender Trouble', 'Queer Temporalities/Queer Histories', 'Queer Affect', and 'Queer Liberalism?'. Beginning with foundational texts by Eve Sedgwick and Judith Butler, we will cover topics including queer performativity, female masculinity, queer history, queer affect, homonormativity and homonationalism, queer intersectionality, and trans* theory. This module offers an opportunity to engage in debates central to queer theory, while also develop skills in literary and cultural analysis of contemporary fictions of sexuality.