Gender Play in the Narrative Realm: Reimagining Gender in His Uncertain Skin

Abstract

This submission explores new ways in which writing can be received and experienced in attempting to destabilise gender binaries and traditional ways of ‘doing’ gender, in opening up the possibility of becoming other than what is limiting in prescribed gender modes, and in creative fashioning of the self. The project, a novella and accompanying exegesis, explores the concept of gender as an evolving art practice within the imaginative space of a narrative. It seeks to disrupt and reinvent traditional binaries and love stories, and reimagine how someone creates or authors themselves and the people around them, and how a character in fiction might undergo an unconventional kind of transformation, a continual becoming, one without a defined end point. The exegetical component interrogates my writing process, and documents the ways in which the novella changed shape and direction, in tandem with my reading of literary works and exploring theory related to the project. The creative component, His Uncertain Skin, shows these ideas in practice, as the narrative depicts a teenage boy who experiences gender dysphoria, is intensely dissatisfied with his prescribed gender, yet is unable to commit to an either/or existence, in transitioning to living as a girl.