An Introduction to Queer Theory

n this seminar we will trace the evolution of queer theory from the “gay studies” of the 1970s and ‘80s to the contemporary theorisation of trans identity. On the way we will consider the impact of Michel Foucault and affirmative politics on ideas of sexual identity, as well as the effect of the AIDS crisis, cultural studies, cinema and identity politics on queer modes of being. Paying particular attention to queer aesthetics, and understanding the aesthetic itself as queer, we’ll think about performativity and melodrama, intimacy, secrecy and paranoia, narrative and its discontents, loss, time, mourning and beauty. As well as engaging a range of theories and theorists, we’ll often read the stories and watch the movies that they discuss in order to come to our own conclusions about queer reading practices. Our aim throughout will be to get to grips with the decisive impact that queer theory has had on literary study.