What is transgender literature? Is it simply works by writers who identify as transgender? Or might it be thought of as a lens to read through, or a certain kind of attention? If it is the latter: in what tradition might we locate transgender literature?

In this talk, American author Torrey Peters will argue for finding the roots of current transfeminine literature in older works that explore the performance of masculinity, works that in fact have been popularly accepted as containing little ambivalence about the meanings of gender. The primary focus will be on Ernest Hemingway, but with slight detours into Per Petterson, Thomas Mann, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Evelyn Waugh, and the pharmacology of steroid regimens taken by extreme bodybuilders.

Torrey Peters rocketed into the international literary scene with her debut novel Detransition, Baby, a warm and intelligent exploration of gender, parenthood and trans life. The novel was among other prizes nominated for The Women’s Prize for Fiction, and is celebrated for its complex trans characters and for painting a truthful picture of the New York trans scene.

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