Hi Class,

I realize that I sprinted through a lot of material today. Here’s a recap:

 

1–Review the Gothic Homesickness handout. It might prove useful for your presentation, the final essay, or the final exam. [Readings]

 

2–Review page 5 of Lloyd-Smith for a closer inspection of the Central Gothic Irony. [Readings]

 

3–Queer Theory [Johns Hopkins Guide, in Readings]

 

4–Review the Critical Article by Darryl Hattenhauer and Doubles…162-5. [Readings]

• The ideas of QT help us make sense of this uneven desire and repulsion, and is sometimes connected to the gothic.

• Towards a definition of QT … in five words: radical deconstruction of sexual rhetoric

* QT develops links between progressive activism, poststructuralism, and the problematic of sexuality

* QT is not a settled theory, but it does borrow from the instability of language and the contingency of history; it interrogates binary relationships such as masculine/feminine, sex/gender, closeted/out, center/margin

* QT claims that too often critical analysis of homosexual/heterosexual definitions are absent

* QT considers sexuality as a performance, and it is therefore an unstable and volatile site for negotiation and struggle

*QT has helped the word queer to become domesticated; it is no longer negative word

*QT invests in close reading; and it is concerned where desire, sexuality, and bodies are seen in language

Questions that QT helps us ask:

1—Who has power in a relationship? What is the source of the power? Money, physical size, emotional intelligence, etc

2—Is power being used in connection to desire or sexuality?

3—Is someone using gender or desire/sexuality against someone?

4—Is a person expressing a normative or non-normative attitude toward desire/sexuality/gender?

5—Is there a challenge to norms of d/s/g, or is there an acceptance of non-binary and non-normative d/s/g?

 

 

Homework: Work on presentations. Monday’s roster:  Fatma, Yarlin, Rachel, Jamela, Salim, Isaac

 

Make sure to review the assignment instructions [Assignments] and pay attention to the large objectives:

•  Assemble photos or video, provide captions

• Decide on key gothic terms

• Decide on connected texts

• Write outline

• Practice your delivery

 

 

Best wishes,

Prof. Scanlan