When I was in university, there was a class on the course list that I couldn’t wait to take: an introduction to lesbian literature. Unfortunately, that class was never offered in the years I was there. I did study some queer literature, but I never got to take a class devoted to it. And I want to fix that.
There are quite a few different queer literature classes that list their syllabi online, and I’m going to pick one to do myself. Obviously, it won’t be the same as actually taking that class, but I can do the readings and even do a version of the writing assignments to share with you what I’ve learned. I’m excited to read both queer lit and theory — as well as to revisit that academic headspace, but without the pressures of actually being enrolled. Another fun aspect of this is that I tend to talk just about new queer books here, and this is a way for me to cover more classic and backlist queer literature.
Here’s where you come in: I’ve narrowed it down to four syllabi possibilities, and I’d like you to choose what I take! I’ll give you a brief rundown of each one, and then I’ll link a Google poll for paid subscribers to vote on which one I should take.
The only required text for this class is Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, which I’ve been meaning to read for years, but it draws on a lot of excerpts, short stories, and poems — most of which are free online.
Authors include Alexander Chee, Saeed Jones, Anne Carson, Virginia Woolf, Tommy Pico, and many more. Topics include: The Queer Body, Queer Time, The Queer Canon, The Plague, Gender Trouble, and CAMP. I love the variety and diversity of the texts covered, and this will definitely be less stressful and take me less time to do than the classes that require eight full novels…which makes it much more likely I’ll actually finish it.
Here are the required books for this class, as well as articles and other short texts:
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Guapa by Saleem Haddad
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
The Price of Salt (Carol) by Patricia Highsmith
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
Escape to an Autumn Pavement by Andrew Salkey
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
As well as the films Mädchen in Uniform and Victim.
I’ve already read half of these, but most of the others have been on my TBR, especially Confessions of the Fox. It would be interesting to take a class from an English university, because my queer literature knowledge is mostly based in the U.S. (despite being Canadian).
Here are the required books for this class, as well as articles and other short texts:
IRL by Tommy Pico
Zami by Audre Lorde
Angels in America by Tony Kushner
Trash by Dorothy Allison
As well as the films Moonlight and Tongues Untied
I’ve already read Zami, and I loved the other book I read by Dorothy Allison, so this book list looks great to me. I also like the variety of texts referenced. If I’m honest, this made my shortlist because the first readings have these titles: “I Want a Dyke for President” by Zoe Leonard and “Dr. Laura, Sit on my Face” by Rocko Bulldagger.
Finally, there’s this global queer literature class! I like the idea of taking a class that explicitly has a focus on queer stories from around the world, because most of these classes are pretty U.S.-centric. Here are the required books:
Fairytales for Lost Children by Diriye Osman
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin
Me Hijra, Me Laxmi by Laxminarayan Tripathi
If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
Salvation Army by Abdellah Taïa
Babyji by Abha Dawesar
Mundo Cruel by Luis Negrón
I’m less familiar with most of the authors in this syllabi, which is intriguing. It would be really interesting to get introduced to queer lit I would likely not have picked up otherwise.
And those are my options! All Access members can click the link below to vote on which class I should take and write about.