How does a queer, trans or intersex body take shape in a narrative? Dr Chiara Pellegrini is here to help us better understand how narrative form, point of view, and embodiment interact in contemporary storytelling – whether that be in novels, short stories or reality TV. We speak about problematic narrative tropes of trans narration, such as the ‘gender reveal’, but also about how some narrative voices protect their characters from voyeuristic intrusions. I’m also absolutely fascinated by Chiara’s take on Barbie.

Don’t delay, listen today! To learn more about Chiara’s work, follow her on Twitter @chiarapg4 and, while you’re at it, stay in touch with the podcast on Instagram @queerlitpodcast.    

References: 

Pellegrini, Chiara. Trans Narrators: First-Person Form and the Gendered Body in Contemporary Literature. Edinburgh University Press, 2025.

Gillis, Stacy and Chiara Pellegrini (eds.) The Cultural Politics of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Special Issue of Feminist Theory 25.4 (2024).

Mejeur, Cody and Chiara Pellegrini (eds.) Trans/forming Narrative Studies. Special Issue of Narrative 32.2 (2024).

Pellegrini, Chiara. ‘Anticipating the Plot: Overdetermining Heteronormative Destiny on the Twenty-First- Century Screen’, Textual Practice (2022): 1-23.

Pellegrini, Chiara. ‘“Declining to Describe”: Intersex Narrators and Textual Visibility’. Interdisciplinary and Global Perspectives on Intersex. Ed. Megan Walker (Palgrave, 2022): 49-64.

ISSN International Society for the Study of Narrative

https://www.thenarrativesociety.org/2024-conference-1

Narrative for Social Justice

https://www.thenarrativesociety.org/n4sj

Jay Prosser’s Second Skins

Travis Alabanza’s None of the Above

Calvin Gimpelevic’s Invasions: Stories

Susan Lanser “Queering Narrative Voice” Textual Practice 32.6 (2018)

Sara Taylor’s The Lauras

Jordy Rosenberg’s Confessions of the Fox

Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex

Marquis Bey’s Black Trans Feminism

Hida Viloria - Born Both: An Intersex Life (Hachette 2017)

Hannah Gadsby’s The Gender Agenda

Dahlia Belle (the comic Lena mentions)

Cody Mejeur

Casey Plett and Cat Fitzpatrick’s Meanwhile, Elsewhere

The Ultimatum

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.     How might narrative point of view affect trans and intersex narratives? Why do you think the first person has been a particularly popular point of view in trans texts?
2.      What does ‘embodiment’ mean when it comes to narration?
3.      Chiara suggests that narratology (the study of how we tell stories) can learn a lot from trans narrative forms. What, for example, can we learn from a trans perspective?
4.      We speak about problematic narratives that conceal trans or queer bodies, only to reveal them to readers or viewers later on. Can you think of an example for this type of narrative? Why would this be harmful?
5.      How do you feel about some of the recent queer reality TV shows?