Mapping Desire: Queer Spaces in Contemporary Literature

Catalog description

What makes a space queer? How are queer spaces mapped, remembered, and debated within queer communities but also American culture at large? And what sorts of access does literature provide us to these spaces? This introductory course in American Studies aims to engage with these questions by setting students loose in the back roads, closets, and dance clubs of queer literature. Though issues of sex and sexuality will be at the heart of this course, our readings will also explore questions of race, gender, and nation. Authors include James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Ocean Vuong, and Maggie Nelson.