Potentiality and Possibility: An Overview of Beowulf and Queer Theory

Abstract

In 1990, Teresa de Lauretis coined “queer theory”, which subsequently sparked discussion of non-normative gender and sexuality in literature. Despite the theory’s codification nearly 30 years ago, there are few queer approaches to the foundational Old English poem Beowulf. The two primary handbooks on Beowulf, A Beowulf Handbook (1997) and A Critical Companion to Beowulf (2003) make no mention of queer theory. In 2009, David Clark’s article “Old English Literature and Same-Sex Desire: An Overview” gave a historiography for studies of early medieval English same-sex relationships and concluded future work should integrate queer theory in their approach. This essay aims to update all three reference-works by enumerating queer theoretical approaches to Beowulf since 1990 through two thematic strands: transgressive human behavior and queer monsters. By examining queer readings of Beowulf, I submit this theory’s usefulness in problematizing long-held assumptions and presenting new possibilities for understanding the Old English heroic world as diverse and plural.