Queer literary interpretation
 |
The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (November 2010) |
 |
This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (March 2010) |
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009) |
|
|
This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. See the talk page for details. WikiProject LGBT studies or the LGBT studies Portal may be able to help recruit an expert. (April 2007) |
Queer literary interpretation is a method of literary interpretation stemming from Marxism, feminism, psychoanalysis and the gay rights movement. It is an addition to literary theory in the 1980s.
Only partially based on gay, lesbian and bisexual issues, a queer literary interpretation is largely concerned with sexual identity, especially "closeted" (hidden) sexual identity. Other "closeted" aspects of works are often examined, as well.
There are opposing views of queer literary theory. One view is that sexual identity is "fixed", and may be discerned by careful study. The opposing view is that sexual identity is both fluid and socially constructed, and thus there is no "absolute" identity.
Questions that a queer literary interpretation might attempt to answer:
- What does the work tell the reader about the author's sexual identity?
- Conversely, how might the author's sexual identity affect different aspects of work?
- What doesn't the author tell the reader about the sexual identities of his or her characters? How this omission significant?
- What aspects of the work has the author silenced or closeted, in order to gain the approval of society?
A traditional work of literature can be "queered" by applying this type of interpretation.
