Nobody Dies at the End? Exploring the Possibilities of Optimism in Gay Men's Writing in Twenty-First Century American Literature

最后没人死吗？

• 批准号: 2726735
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2726735
• 关键词: Nobody; Dies; End; Exploring; Possibilities

My research project will be one of the first to critically examine the literary and cultural implications of intersectionality in twenty-first century gay men's writing in the USA. It will also be one of the first to undertake a comparative examination of the possibilities (and challenges) of queer optimism in this literary corpus. The goal of my research is to provide crucial insight into the significance of gay men's - and in particular gay men from marginalised communities - literary production to America's self-identity as it grapples with demographic change, the culture wars, and the prominence of millennials as producers and consumers of literature. By critically engaging with gay men's writing, my research will explore these key tensions and ask what role might queer expression play in creating a better America. I will focus on the work of authors such as Brandon Taylor, Ocean Vuong, Bryan Washington and Anthony So because of their visibility in the media and in the contemporary literary marketplace. I will also use the Lambda Literary Awards shortlists as an archival base for identifying the changes in queer representational strategies and in criteria for critical appeal over the last two decades.My hypotheses are threefold. The first posits that contemporary gay men's writing in the US remains preoccupied with representing anxiety, violence, vulnerability and family trauma linked to the homosexuality of its protagonists but is less concerned with the closet (Russo, 1987) and the death (Bersani, 1987) of its protagonists than works produced in the twentieth century. Second, a significant strand of contemporary gay men's writing involves examining young gay men's lives at the intersection between sexuality and other social identity categories such as race, class and cultural background (Crenshaw, 1989; Ahmed, 2006). For example, the protagonist of Taylor's Real Life experiences discrimination because of his African-American ethnicity, his homosexuality and his working-class, Southern background. The novel brings into sharp relief the myriad difficulties he faces on the basis of his identity. The third posits that life at the intersection both complicates and enhances the possibility of 'queer optimism' (Snediker, 2006; Munoz, 1999 & 2009).To chart the status of contemporary American gay men's writing and theorise the social and cultural interventions this writing is making, my research will address the following questions:What significance does the positive/optimistic representation of gay male protagonists have?What is the importance of the ways in which this literature produces and nuances intersectionalidentities?Does the representation of intersectional identities challenge or embolden possibilities of optimism forAmerica's future?My thesis chapters will discuss the significance of the following in gay men's writing: the nature of intersectional identities (for example, that of the African American PhD student at the heart of Taylor's Real Life); queer love and sex (for instance, within California's Cambodian American community in So's Afterparties and interracial Black and Asian partnerships in Washington's Memorial); family relationships and tensions (e.g., in Vuong's acclaimed anthology On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous); and the concept of the Bildungsroman.

我的研究项目将是第一个批判性地研究在二十一世纪世纪美国男同性恋写作中交叉性的文学和文化含义。它也将是第一个进行比较研究的可能性（和挑战）的酷儿乐观主义在这个文学语料库。我的研究的目标是提供重要的洞察同性恋男子的意义-特别是同性恋男子从边缘化社区-文学生产美国的自我认同，因为它与人口变化，文化战争，以及千禧一代作为文学的生产者和消费者的突出地位。通过批判性地参与男同性恋者的写作，我的研究将探讨这些关键的紧张局势，并询问酷儿表达在创造一个更好的美国中可能发挥什么作用。我将重点关注布兰登·泰勒（Brandon Taylor）、欧申·黄（Ocean Vuong）、布莱恩·华盛顿（Bryan Washington）和安东尼·苏（Anthony So）等作家的作品，因为他们在媒体和当代文学市场上的知名度。我还将使用拉姆达文学奖的入围名单作为档案基础，以确定过去20年来酷儿代表策略和批评吸引力标准的变化。第一个假设，当代男同性恋者在美国的写作仍然专注于表现焦虑，暴力，脆弱性和家庭创伤与同性恋的主角，但较少关注壁橱（Russo，1987）和死亡（Bersani，1987）的主角比作品产生在二十世纪。其次，当代男同性恋者的写作中有一个重要的环节，就是在性与其他社会身份类别（如种族、阶级和文化背景）的交叉点上审视年轻男同性恋者的生活（Crenshaw，1989; Ahmed，2006）。例如，泰勒的真实的生活的主人公经历歧视，因为他的非洲裔美国人的种族，他的同性恋和他的工人阶级，南方的背景。这部小说使他在身份的基础上所面临的无数困难得到了鲜明的体现。第三个假设，生活在十字路口都复杂化，并提高了“酷儿乐观主义”的可能性（Snediker，2006年;穆尼奥斯，1999年和2009年）。图表当代美国男同性恋者的写作和理论化的社会和文化干预，这种写作是，我的研究将解决以下问题：什么意义的积极/乐观的男同性恋主角的代表性有？这种文学作品产生和细微差别交叉身份的方式的重要性是什么？交叉身份的代表性是否挑战或鼓励对美国未来的乐观可能性？我的论文章节将讨论以下在男同性恋写作中的重要性：交叉身份的本质（例如，泰勒的真实的生活的核心的非裔美国博士生）;同性恋的爱和性（例如，在加州的柬埔寨裔美国人社区在So的Afterparties和跨种族的黑人和亚洲伙伴关系在华盛顿的纪念）;家庭关系和紧张关系（例如，在Vuong的著名选集在地球上，我们是短暂的华丽）;和成长小说的概念。