Queer Lit

Abstract

6 worldliteraturetoday.org The importance of LGBT rights has been a prominent social and political lightning rod for decades. Today it is at the forefront of our politics, our history, and our culture. During this year alone, two of the world’s largest powers made political decisions that represent conflicting views on LGBT rights: the US Supreme Court reversed DOMA and effectively ended Prop 8 to make same-sex marriage legal, while Russia implemented a law that criminalizes homosexuality. The politics of homosexuality are as contentious as ever and the way governments address them more divisive than ever. LGBT literature reflects the ebb and flow of this acceptance and condemnation. For centuries, homosexual literature has been banned, hidden, and destroyed. These novels are examples of political rebellion and the power of the written word. Whether allowed to be heard freely or quieted by a culture of repression, these shouts and whispers are the voices of our community. Without apology, these novels demonstrate that we are taking our place in society with bravery and honesty. Lyric Novella Annemarie Schwarzenbach Isabel Cole, tr. This is the quintessential love story of lesbian falls for straight girl—only the narrator is a thinly disguised male version of the author, and it was published in 1933 Berlin. It is also an important societal and historical novella about a woman in love/lust with another woman during a time when homophobia was on the rise in nascent Nazi Germany. Schwarzenbach , who was Swiss, lived a lesbian, bohemian lifestyle during a difficult time, and this novella captures the desperation of the lovesick. The Diesel Thani Al-Suwaidi William Maynard Hutchins, tr. Originally published in Beirut in 1994, The Diesel was banned and didn’t appear in English until recently . Not only is this novella highly creative and original, it explores the role of sex and gender through concise and sparse language. “The Diesel” is a transgender entertainer, famous in his small Arab town and the environs , who bridges the gap between the older and younger generations. Al-Suwaidi balances the graphic explicitness with impassivity and honesty, and the narrative reads like a fable full of meaning and nuance. Layered and abstract, it is a novella that can be reread many times and each time will bring a new discovery about gender and the nature of sex. Lovetown Michal Witkowski Set in postcommunist Poland, Lovetown is a campy romp through the secret and wild underground of gay Poland. Full of wit and genderbending jargon, Witkowski introduces two queens, Patricia and Lucretia , who are being interviewed by a young journalist about their days living as homosexuals during communism . The ribald stories sashay forth with nostalgia and cattiness that is uproariously entertaining. On a journey to Lovetown, a gay hot spot on the Baltic seaside, Lucretia and Patricia clash with the politically correct new-world gays, which long for the lascivious, outrageous, and clandestine world of two queens in communist Poland. Monica Carter is project coordinator for Lambda Literary Foundation’s LGBT Writers in Schools program. She is also a judge for the Best Translated Book award and curates her own website, Salonica World Lit, dedicated to international literature. Her fiction has appeared in Strange Cargo, The Rattling Wall, Black Clock, Bloom, and Cactus Heart. She is finishing her novel, In the Life. What to Read Now Queer Lit Monica Carter notebook ...