Against Homochrononormativity: New Queer Times in French and Greek Literature

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'Queer time' describes the phenomenon that queer lifetimes can exist outside of conventional heteronormative "markers of life experience" like "family, inheritance, and childrearing" (Halberstam, 2005:1). While certain countries in the West claim that equality has been achieved, issues remain. As the UK considers reforming the Gender Recognition Act and trans suicide rates persist in 'tolerant' cultures, how might we reconsider queer narrative temporality in the European political landscape? Building on Saxey's theory of the homoplot (2008) and Freeman's theory of 'chrononormativity' (2010), I shall use 'coming out' narratives as cultural documents to explore whether queer communities feel pressured to develop their sexuality or gender according to certain norms. I have chosen to compare French and Greek narratives because both cultures, historically uneasy with queer discourse, are experiencing an autobiographical turn focused on time, and translation between these languages, as well as the movement of people and ideas, have proven significant. How do these norms affect the stories queer writers narrate about themselves and vice versa? How do these stories experiment with chronology and self-reinvention, respond to intersections of class, race and gender, and influence each other through translation? To this end, my study will reassert fluidity and queer self-determination while trans and non-binary communities fight to control their own transitions. In French, these narratives include the life-writing of Didier Eribon, Édouard Louis, Constance Debré and Anne Garréta, as well as the documentaries of Sébastien Lifshitz. In Greek, Eribon and Louis's work has been translated to acclaim, influencing trans life-writers such as Sam Albatros. He and fellow trans writers like Erofili Kokkali have also responded to earlier Greek texts by Kostas Tachtsis and Margarita Karapanou. Meanwhile, the trans activist Paola Revenioti has explored trans and queer histories of Athens in her documentary Pikrodafnes, following the success of Panos Koutras' trans film Strella and increasing trans visibility in Greek media. These narratives concern themselves with time and whether queer (and principally trans) life has a future, or 'temporality', in these cultures. If queer life has become 'legible', it must nevertheless follow 'approved' timelines, a discourse Freeman calls "chrononormativity" (2010: 3). Therefore, my research questions are: to what extent do biopolitical norms determine the trajectory of queer individuals in these countries, the stories queer writers narrate about themselves and vice versa? How do these French and Greek texts illuminate one another? Decentring Anglophonic literature from comparative studies in this way may yield novel perspectives.The originality of my approach lies in extending 'homonormativity' and trans experiences to previous understandings of queer time. Through close reading and contextualising these texts with earlier examples, I will ascertain if changing social norms have yielded different narrative tropes over time and vice versa. Using trauma theory, I will explore the links between non-linear traumatic narratives and the 'fluid' queer selves they describe. I will use reception and translation theory to see if Greek authors have conducted negotiated readings of these French narrative forms to describe their own cultural situations.To make my study intersectional, I will introduce class by analysing how Louis and Eribon link it with queer self-reinvention. I shall contrast their discussions of queerness and class to those of less-privileged Greek creators like Kokkali and Revenioti, using Bourdieu's theories of capital and class distinction. Using Garréta and Debré, I will incorporate women's experiences. Finally, I will use writings on trans temporalities (e.g. Preciado, 2020) to nuance chrononormativity and I will find ways of including more racial diversity in my corpus.