Description
The Queer Uncanny: New Perspectives on the Gothic investigates the roles played by the concept of the uncanny, as defined by Sigmund Freud and other theorists, in the representation of lesbian and male gay sexualities and transgender in a selection of contemporary British, American and Caribbean fiction published 1980-2007. Novels by Christopher Bram, Philip Hensher, Alan Hollingurst, Randall Kenan, Shani Mootoo, Sarah Schulman, Ali Smith, Sarah Waters, Jeanette Winterson and other writers receive analysis in the context of queer theory and gothic critical writing. Topics discussed include: secrets and their disclosure, queer spectrality, the homely/ unhomely house, the grotesque, lesbian social invisibility, transgender doubles, and the intersection between sexuality and race.
About the Author
Dr Paulina Palmer has now retired from a senior lectureship in English at Warwick University, where she helped establish the Women's Studies MA, she also lectured for the MA in Gender and Sexuality at Birkbeck, London University. Dr Palmer's publications include Contemporary Women's Fiction: Narrative Practice and Feminist Theory; Contemporary Lesbian Writing: Dreams, Desire, Difference; and Lesbian Gothic: Transgressive Fictions. http://www.paulinapalmer.org.uk
Reviews
Palmer's argument is clear: the uncanny has provided fertile ground for writers attempting to negotiate the intricacies of the queer experience. For that reason, The New Uncanny is not only an interesting intervention in Gothic scholarship, but also to queer literary criticism. Proving that queer writing is very much in currency, Palmer manages to impress the urgency of such writing and the need to recast its relation to the uncanny as not tangential but endemic to queer existence. She proposes in her conclusion that, whilst concerned with similar ideas, lesbian and male gay writing generally avoid combined portrayals of queer desire, and that, as a result of queer influence, the two might merge and interrelate. Xavier Aldana Reyes, The Gothic Imagination
Book Information
ISBN 9780708324592
Author Paulina Palmer
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint University of Wales Press
Publisher University of Wales Press
Weight(grams) 318g
About the Author
Dr Paulina Palmer has now retired from a senior lectureship in English at Warwick University, where she helped establish the Women's Studies MA, she also lectured for the MA in Gender and Sexuality at Birkbeck, London University. Dr Palmer's publications include Contemporary Women's Fiction: Narrative Practice and Feminist Theory; Contemporary Lesbian Writing: Dreams, Desire, Difference; and Lesbian Gothic: Transgressive Fictions. http://www.paulinapalmer.org.uk
Reviews
Palmer's argument is clear: the uncanny has provided fertile ground for writers attempting to negotiate the intricacies of the queer experience. For that reason, The New Uncanny is not only an interesting intervention in Gothic scholarship, but also to queer literary criticism. Proving that queer writing is very much in currency, Palmer manages to impress the urgency of such writing and the need to recast its relation to the uncanny as not tangential but endemic to queer existence. She proposes in her conclusion that, whilst concerned with similar ideas, lesbian and male gay writing generally avoid combined portrayals of queer desire, and that, as a result of queer influence, the two might merge and interrelate. Xavier Aldana Reyes, The Gothic Imagination
Book Information
ISBN 9780708324592
Author Paulina Palmer
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint University of Wales Press
Publisher University of Wales Press
Weight(grams) 318g
