An Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly

215 Pages·2022·8.083 MB·English

by  Will Stockton

Will Stockton’s An Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly is, in a
word, staggering. Stockton synthesizes two centuries of philosophical and the­
oretical writing that has shaped the field of queer studies, covering the most
important topics that have occupied queer studies: reading methods, disability,
class and neoliberalism, the racialization of sexuality, the limits and affordances
of identity politics, and the historicization of sexuality. What is more, Reading
Queerly puts this intellectual and theoretical tradition into nuanced conversa­
tion with literary texts that both illustrate and expand it, offering insightful and
surprising readings of William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Nella Larsen, Leslie
Feinberg, Dionne Brand, Stephen King, and Alison Bechdel—to name just a
few. Stockton’s erudition, his witty and succinct turns of phrase, and his
humility about the limitations of any one scholar’s perspective offer a model for
queer literary studies at its best.
Melissa Sanchez, University of Pennsylvania
I am quite keen to teach from this book. Will Stockton has gifted our students
with a detailed guide to the current state of queer literary analysis. With ample
case studies to model, An Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly
will become a go-to standard for gender and sexuality studies for our diverse
undergraduate pedagogies.
Scott Herring, Yale University

An Introduction to Queer
Literary Studies
An Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly is the first introduction to
queer theory written especially for students of literature. Tracking the emergence
of queer theory out of gay and lesbian studies, this book pays unique attention to
how queer scholars have read some of the most well-known works in the Eng­
lish language.
Organized thematically, this book explores queer theoretical treatments of
sexual identity, gender and sexual norms and normativity, negativity and
utopianism, economics and neoliberalism, and AIDS activism and disability.
Each chapter expounds upon foundational works in queer theory by scho­
lars including Michel Foucault, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Lee Edelman.
Each chapter also offers readings of primary texts –ranging from the highly
canonical, like John Milton’s Paradise Lost, to more contemporary works of
popular fiction, like Stephen King’s ’Salem’s Lot. Along the way, An Intro­
duction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly demonstrates how queer
reading methods work alongside other methods like feminism, historicism,
deconstruction, and psychoanalysis.
By modeling queer readings, this book invites literature students to
develop queer readings of their own. It also suggests that reading queerly is
not simply a matter of reading work written by queer people. Queer read­
ing attunes us to the queerness of even the most straightforward text.
Will Stockton is Professor of English at Clemson University. His previous
books include Members of His Body: Shakespeare, Paul, and a Theology of
Nonmonogamy (Fordham University Press) and Playing Dirty: Sexuality and
Waste in Early Modern Comedy (University of Minnesota Press).

An Introduction to Queer
Literary Studies
Reading Queerly
Will Stockton
Cover image: Heritage Images, Getty
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Will Stockton
The right of Will Stockton to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-67810-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-67798-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-13293-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003132936
Typeset in Bembo
by Taylor & Francis Books
To Will Thompson, who still thinks queer theory is
nonsense, but who worked hard to help this book make
sense

Contents

List of illustrations xi

Notes on the Text xii

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction: A Brief History of Queer Theory 1

The Puzzle of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 20 1

Smear the Queer 3

Before Queer Theory 6

Five Ways of Reading Sonnet 20 21

1 Identity 34

Pin the Identity on the Pardoner 34

Sexuality and Sexuality Identity 38

Paranoid and Reparative Reading 44

In Search of the Author: The Wilde Trials and The Picture of

Dorian Gray 47

Psychoanalysis and the Incoherent Self 52

Surface and Depth, Text and Subtext: Nella Larson’s Passing 55

2 Normativity 64

From Woman-Man to Gay Man: BADBOY’s The Scarlet

Pansy 64

Heteronormativity and Homonormativity 68

Narrative and its Discontents: Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home 77

Without, Before, and Within 83

Margery Kempe and Queer History 87