Id 386 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . Spring 1997
articulation of queer voices
Richard Cornwall
"My desire (More sharp than filed steel) did spur me forth"
Twelfth Night III, iii, 4-5
desidero ergo sum
(annon. post/modernist epigraph)
"language thinks for us"
from McCloskey from Burke from Coleridge from ...
- Queer studies focuses on the social articulation of desire leading
to the social abjection
- of an erotic Other: Queer. Among social identities, the queer trope
alone is based solely on desire. It has been shaped by a succession of queer
panics in the past several centuries in western-dominated cultures. We shall
examine: the development of queer from the sixteenth century on in Europe
and the Americas as markets and urban cultures grew; insights from literary
theory and cognitive psychology on how queer codes are amplified; interactions
between queer theory and feminist and African-American studies. Prerequisite:
maturity (willingness to look at extreme Otherness, abomination).
Books at the Bookstore for this course
Before buying all of these, check below to see how they are used and talk
to classmates to see if you could share the same copy or share using the
Library's copy.
texts used heavily:
Judith Butler. Bodies That Matter: On The Discursive Limits of "Sex".
1993 New York: Routledge ISBN: 0-415-90366-1 (PB) HQ1190.B88 1993.
Lillian Faderman. Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life
in Twentieth-Century America. 1991 New York: Columbia Univ. Press ISBN:
0-231-07488-3; HQ75.6.U5F33 1991.
George Chauncey. Gay New York: Gender, Culture, and the Making of the Gay
Male World, 1890-1940. 1994 Basic Books (HarperCollins) ISBN 0-465-02633-8;
HQ76.2.U52N53 1994.
Michel Foucault. The History of Sexuality, vol. I : An Introduction. 1990
edition. New York: Vintage Books (Random House).
David M. Halperin. Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography. 1995. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
novels used once (listed in order of use):
Dorothy Allison. Bastard out of Carolina. 1993 New York: Plume (Penguin)
PS3551.L453B37 1993 ISBN 0-452-26957-1.
Jean Genet. Funeral Rites. trans. by Bernard Frechtman. 1969 New York: Grove
Press ISBN 0-8021-3087-9 (pbk).
Darieck Scott. Traitor to the Race. 1995 New York: Dutton Book (Penguin)
PS3569.C6153T7 1995.
Jeanette Winterson. Art & Lies : a piece for three voices and a bawd. 1995
PR6073.I558 A78 1995.
reference use:
The following "texts" for this class are on Reserve at the Library:
Judith Butler. Bodies That Matter: On The Discursive Limits of "Sex".
1993 New York: Routledge ISBN: 0-415-90366-1 (PB) HQ1190.B88 1993.
Lillian Faderman. Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life
in Twentieth-Century America. 1991 New York: Columbia Univ. Press ISBN:
0-231-07488-3; HQ75.6.U5F33 1991.
George Chauncey. Gay New York: Gender, Culture, and the Making of the Gay
Male World, 1890-1940. 1994 Basic Books (HarperCollins) ISBN 0-465-02633-8;
HQ76.2.U52N53 1994.
Michel Foucault. The History of Sexuality, vol. I : An Introduction. 1990
edition. New York: Vintage Books (Random House).
David M. Halperin. Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography. 1995. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
novels on 3-day reserve:
Dorothy Allison. Bastard out of Carolina. 1993 New York: Plume (Penguin)
PS3551.L453B37 1993 ISBN 0-452-26957-1.
Jean Genet. Funeral Rites. trans. by Bernard Frechtman. 1969 New York: Grove
Press ISBN 0-8021-3087-9 (pbk).
Darieck Scott. Traitor to the Race. 1995 New York: Dutton Book (Penguin)
PS3569.C6153T7 1995.
Jeanette Winterson. Art & Lies : a piece for three voices and a bawd.
1995 PR6073.I558 A78 1995. Two copies.
The following "non-texts" (i.e., they qualify for the 2 bonus
points on weekly written pieces when parts other than any assigned readings
are used) are on 2-hour reserve:
Lillian Faderman. Chloe plus Olivia: An Anthology of Lesbian Literature
from the Seventeenth Century to the Present. PS509.L47C47 1994.
Henry Abelove, Michele Aina Barale, David M. Halperin. 1993. Lesbian and
Gay Studies Reader. New York: Routledge. HQ76.25.L48 1993 Two copies.
Judith Butler. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity.
HQ1154.B88 1990.
Jonathan Dollimore. 1991. Sexual Dissidence: Augustine to Wilde, Freud to
Foucault. Oxford: Clarendon Press. HQ71 .D49 1991.
David Greenberg. The Construction of Homosexuality. HQ76.25.G74 1988.
Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past. edited by Martin
Duberman, Martha Vicinus and George Chauncey, Jr. HQ76.25.H527 1990.
Rich, Adrienne Cecile. On lies, secrets, and silence: selected prose, 1966-1978.
New York: W. W. Norton, 1979. 1980. PS3535 I233 O5 1979.
Steven Seidman. The postmodern turn: New perspectives on social theory.
[1994] New York: Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-45235-X.
John D'Emilio. Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual
Minority in the United States 1940-1970. HQ76.8.U5 D45 1983.
John C. Gonsiorek and James D. Weinrich (eds.). Homosexuality: Research
Implications for Public Policy 1991 Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications.
HQ76.3.U5 H677 1991.
Terry Helbing (ed.). Gay and Lesbian Plays Today. 1992 Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
PS627 .H67 G38 1993.
Carl Morse & Joan Larkin. Gay & Lesbian Poetry in Our Time. 1988
PS595.H65 G39 1988.
Sharon O'Brien. Willa Cather. 1994 New York: Chelsea House PS3505.A87Z746.
Winterson, Jeanette. Art objects : essays on ecstasy and effrontery. PR6073.I558
A8 1996.
Some excellent references on cinema:
Bad Object Choice (ed). How Do I Look ?: Queer Film and Video. 1991 Seattle:
Bay Press. This has key piece by Teresa de Lauretis, "Film and the
Visible," which defines "filmic language" and gives a strong
example of queering cinema ("She Must Be Seeing Things"). PN1995.9.H55
H69 1991 (2 copies).
Martha Gever, Pratibha Parmar, and John Greyson (eds). Queer Looks: Perspectives
on Lesbian and Gay Film and Video. 1993 New York: Routledge. This has short,
key piece by Mandy Merck, "Dessert Hearts," on the 1980s movie
"Desert Hearts" which makes tangible why this movie is so easy
to like since it follows the familiar heterosexist lingual structure of
boy-meets-girl, with one small twist. This is an excellent contrast with
the de Lauretis piece. PN1995.9.H55 Q4 1993.
Lee Edelman. Homographesis: essays in gay literary and cultural theory.
1994 New York: Routledge. This has key last chapter on concepts of prosopopeia
and how the homosexual had to be hinted at, imagined, at the height of the
queer panic sweeping the U.S. in the 1940s. PS153.G38 E34 1993.
Richard Dyer. Now you see it: Studies on lesbian and gay film. 1990 New
York: Routledge. This is the most basic and general reference. PN1995.9.H55
D94 1990 (2 copies).
Tamsin Wilton (ed). Immortal, Invisible: Lesbians and the moving image.
1994 New York: Routledge. PN1995.9.L48 I45 1995.
Mapplethorpe, Robert, Black book 1986 New York: St. Martin's Press. TR681.M4
M36 1986 -- Oversize. This is referred to in an excellent piece on the ambiguity
of sexuality intertwined with our racist social structuring by Kobena Mercer
in the book, How Do I Look ?: Queer Film and Video, cited above.
SCHEDULE of READINGS
1. Feb 11-13 essentialism/constructionism and notions of homo/hetero-sexualities
Tues :
Teresa de Lauretis, Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities, An Introduction.
differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 3.2 (1991) iii-xviii
Halperin, Saint Foucault, pp. 3-14.
Thurs :
Chandler Burr, ch. 1-3, pp. 3-48 in A Separate Creation: The Search for
the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation 1996 New York: Hyperion. (handed
out)
John De Cecco & David Allen Parker, Sex, Cells, and Same-Sex Desire:
The Biology of Sexual Preference (handed out):
De Cecco & Parker, pp. 1-27, "Introduction"
Mildred Dickemann, pp. 147-183, "Wilson's Panchreston: The Inclusive
Fitness Hypothesis of Sociobiology Re-Examined"
Parker & De Cecco, pp. 427-430, "Sexual Expression: A Global Perspective"
2. Feb 18-20 queering public policy
Tues :
Foucault. The Human Sciences, ch. 10, pp. 344-387 in The Order of Things:
An Archaeology of the Human Sciences 1994 (orig. 1966) (handed out)
Bowers v. Hardwick and After Hardwick, pp. 125-154 in William B. Rubenstein
(ed.) Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Law 1993 New York: The New Press. (handed
out)
Janet E. Halley. The politics of the closet: towards equal protection for
gay, lesbian and bisexual identity, pp. 145-204 in Jonathan Goldberg, Reclaiming
Sodom [1994] New York: Routledge HQ76.R39 1994 (handed out)
Mohr, Richard D. Gay Ideas: Outing and Other Controversies ch. 3, "Black
law and gay law: do civil rights have a future ?" (handed out)
My letter of Senator Leahy on the ban on "indecent" and "patently
offensive" messages on the Internet. (handed out)
Thurs :
Pat Califia. Excerpts from Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex 1994 Pittsburgh,
PA: Cleis Press. (handed out)
Daniel C. Tsang, pp. 397-426, "Policing 'Perversions': Depo-Provera
and John Money's New Sexual Order" (handed out)
Feb 20-23 Winter Carnival
3. Feb 25-27 emergence of the homo/hetero-sexual dichotomy
Tues :
Faderman. Odd Girls, Introduction, ch. 1-2, pp. 1-61
* Tuesday, Feb. 25, 4:15 PM :Kevin Moss (Russian), Is Anybody Gay Here?
Identity Politics and the Politics of Identity in Eastern Europe in Redfield
Proctor (Upstairs)
Thurs :
Willa Cather, Tommy the Unsentimental (1896) pp. 62-71 in Sharon O'Brien
(ed.) Willa Cather: 24 Stories New York: NAL
Willa Cather, Paul's Case, pp. 208-229 in The Troll Garden and Selected
Stories by Willa Cather 1990 New York: Bantam Books.
Willa Cather, Introduction to My Ántonia
Marilyn Arnold, Two of the Lost, pp. 57-67 in Arnold's book: Willa Cather's
Short Fiction 1984 Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press.
Excerpts from Sharon O'Brien, Willa Cather 1994 New York: Chelsea House
PS3505.A87Z746
(The above pieces on and by Cather will be handed out.)
Butler, Bodies, ch. 1 & 5, pp. 1-23 & 143-166
4. Mar 4-6 emergence of the homo/hetero-sexual dichotomy
Tues :
Chauncey. Gay New York Introduction, Part I, pp. 1-127
Thurs :
R. Cornwall, Primer on queer theory for economists interested in economic
identities (to be handed out.)
Foucault, History, ch. 1, The Incitement to Discourse, and Ch. 2, The Perverse
Implantation
John D'Emilio, 1983. Capitalism and gay identity, pp. 467-476 in The Lesbian
and Gay Studies Reader. Henry Abelove, Michele Ann Barale and David Halperin
(eds.). ON 2-hour RESERVE HQ76.25.L48 1993
Suggestions for further reading: J Butler, Gender Trouble, ch. 2 is good
on key pieces in the history of thought in queer studies: Foucault, Lévi-Strauss
and, esp., Gayle Rubin's Traffic in women, which is classic in queer studies
that I am, regrettably, not assigning.
5. Mar 11-13 But how do we think queerly ?
Tues :
Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina
Thurs :
Excerpts from Dorothy Allison, Skin: Talking About Sex, Class & Literature
1994 Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books (handed out)
6. Mar 18-20 riding the rails to the present
Tues :
Chauncey. Gay New York, Part II, pp. 131-267
Thurs :
Faderman. Odd Girls, ch. 3, pp. 62-92
7. Mar 25-27 glorify queerly ?
Tues :
Genet, Funeral Rites
Thurs :
Hubert Fichte interviews Jean Genet, pp. 69-94 in Gay Sunshine Interviews
Winston Leyland (ed.) 1978 San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press. (handed out)
Excerpts from Jean Genet, Treasures of the Night: The Collected Poems of
Jean Genet Steven Finch (trans) 1981 San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press.
(handed out)
Mar 29-April 6 Spring Break
8. Apr 8-10 America's Queer Panic
Tues :
Faderman. Odd Girls, ch. 4-6, pp. 93-158
ch. 3, pp. 40-53 in John D'Emilio's Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities:
The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States 1940-1970 (HQ76.8.U5
D45 1983) (handed out)
Thurs :
Chauncey. Gay New York Part III and Epilogue, pp. 271-361
9. Apr 15-17 Whose language is thinking for me ?
Tues :
Winterson, Art & Lies
Thurs :
Adrienne Rich, When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision (1971) pp. 33-49
in On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978 1979 New York:
W. W. Norton & Co. PS3535 I233 O5 1979 (handed out)
Jeanette Winterson. the Semiotics of Sex, Imagination and Reality, Art & Life
and A Work of My Own, pp. 103-118, 133-192 in Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy
and Effrontery 1996 New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Laura Doan, Jeanette Winterson's Sexing the Postmodern, ch. 8, pp. 137-155
in Laura Doan (ed) The Lesbian Postmodern 1994 NY: Columbia Univ. Press.
Lisa Moore, "Teledildonics: Virtual Lesbians in the fiction of Jeanette
Winterson," pp. 104-127 in Elizabeth Grosz and Elspeth Probyn (eds)
Sexy Bodies: The Strange Carnalities of Feminism 1995 NY: Routledge.
10. Apr 22-24 reading the parent of queer theory
Tues :
rest of Foucault, Sexuality, pp. 51-159, esp 103-114 and 127-159
Thurs :
Halperin, Saint Foucault, pp. 15-130
11. Apr 29-May 1 interaction of identities
Tues :
Scott, Traitor to the Race
Thurs :
Darieck Scott, Jungle fever? Black gay identity politics, white dick, and
the utopian bedroom. GLQ 1 [1994] 299-321 (handed out)
12. May 6-8 performing queerly: (il)legal identities ? Are we going pomo/homo?
Perform self-consciously a queer gender ?
Tues :
R. R. Cornwall. deconstructing silence: the queer political economy of the
social articulation of desire. Review of Radical Political Economics. 29,
1 (March 1997). (esp pp.: 1-20 and 54-110). (handed out)
Thurs :
Butler. Bodies, critically queer. ch. 8, pp. 223-242
Monday, May 12, 5 PM :
Term Papers due in my box in Munroe 313
1. Short written class-pieces
These should be brought to class each Thursday to provide clear evidence
(an annotated outline is mechanical, but useful) of having read the assigned
readings for that week and should include description of an idea you consider
central to the week's reading. These will be turned in by 5 PM in my box
in Munroe 313 on Friday and returned the next week. These provide the occasionally
obnoxious discipline to read, take notes and pull ideas together so that
class discussions can be fruitful as well as providing a written record
for you of your construction of ideas. These are also a chance to gain experience
articulating a queer voice.
I WANT you to "waste time" browsing in the readings that are on
reserve to supplement the assigned readings and to get off the rather narrow
track I lead you on. To encourage this, each of these weekly pieces has
a maximum grade of 18 points if no use is made of any reading outside of
what is assigned with 2 more points obtainable by making thoughtful, relevant
use of at least one such reading. The goal here is NOT just to get any old
"outside" reading, but to read queer theory to which most of us
have had little exposure since we grew up in heterosexist-saturated cultures.
I want you to experience its different discursive structures !
Save these weekly class pieces and turn them all back in at the as a type
of final portfolio, adding any revisions you are inspired to make. I shall
take both such revisions and changes in your apparent discursive structures
into account in reaching a final grade for this class.
2. A term paper / performance
Your term paper / performance is your articulation of your own ideas, taking
off from concepts discussed in class, but using readings outside the above
reading list. A Supplementary Reading List expanding on the severely abridged
list above will be handed out soon to offer more suggestions for you to
follow so you can persuade me of how deeply you have dived into queer waters.
The purpose of this component is for you to explore in some detail ways
in which our perceptions and articulations are dependent on discursive structures.
It is a chance for you to try to make tangible for yourself what the heck
these Foucauldian beasts are ! In grading these, I shall look first at evidence
that you have grappled (successfully or ) with this question.
This may be done with a performance in which several of you collaborate
to present a video/dance/painting/verbal performance piece in class tied
to what we are doing. Please arrange when you hope to do any such performance
ahead of time ! This performance will compose half of this component and
the other half for each person in any such collaboration is based on a brief
paper explaining how you see the performance illustrating the role of discursive
structures. This should tie the performance to specific readings. For people
who prefer to write a conventional term paper, that is also welcome.
Final written copy of piece accompanying a performance or of a term paper
is due Monday, May 12, after classes end.
3. Grading
The components for this class:
- Twelve weekly written class-pieces (20 points each) . . . . . .
. . . . . 240 points
Term paper / performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 60
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 300
Grades will be assigned to the total score according to:
a total score of at least: . . . .implies a grade of at least:
- 270 . . . . . . . . . . . A-
240 . . . . . . . . . . . B-
180 . . . . . . . . . . . C-
150 . . . . . . . . . . . D
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