Queer Lit

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?    

https://surrey-ucu.org.uk/category/news/

https://www.instagram.com/supportsurreysll/?hl=en

https://www.change.org/p/support-our-surrey-campaign?

This is not an isolated issue! See this list of current large-scale UK HE redundancies:

https://qmucu.org/qmul-transformation/uk-he-shrinking/


IG: @supportsurreysll

Twitter/x: @SaveSurreySLL

https://universityenglish.ac.uk/englishcreates/#:~:text=EnglishCreates%20is%20a%20campaign%20to,literature%2C%20language%20and%20creative%20writing

@queerlitpodcast
[email protected]

Despite the title, this episode contains a generous amount of laughter, because it is just that enjoyable to talk to Hil Malatino, brilliant author of Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad (2022). Hil has published groundbreaking work on trans and intersex stories and histories and, in this most recent monograph, draws our attention to the complexities of trans affect. In order to explore emotions such as numbness, fatigue, envy and rage, Hil consults literary texts as well as performance art, so of course I make Hil talk about my new favourite performance art obsession Cassils, alongside Casey Plett and Kai Cheng Thom. Tune in now to learn about all of these fascinating people, about human dolphin communication, about the manifold uses of ketamine, and about Xena and Subaru.

Find Hil on Instagram @gay_vague and everywhere else @HilMalatino and follow the podcast @queerlitpodcast on Instagram.

References:
Hil Malatino’s Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad (UP Minnesota, 2022)
Hil Malatino’s Trans Care (2020)
Hil Malatino’s Queer Embodiment (2019)
Katy Steinmetz “The Transgender Tipping Point” (2014)
https://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/
Casey Plett
CeCe McDonald
Cassils’ ‘Monument Push’ and ‘Becoming an Image’
Sandra Harding’s strong objectivity
Autotheory
Kai Cheng Thom’s Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars
Paul Preciado
Susan Stryker
Marina Abramovic Institute
Tiresias
Sam Tenorio
Reed Erickson
The Human Potential Movement
Isaac Fellman’s Dead Collections
Sarah Schulman’s Girls, Visions and Everything
Dorothy Allison’s Two or Three Things I Know for Sure Bastard Out Of Carolina
Mo Moulton
Xena: Warrior Princess
WGS South
https://wgssouth.org/

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. Which types of affects does Hil write about in Side Affects? What role do they play in trans storytelling?
2. Can you list the bad feelings that Hil discusses in the book? Hint: You can also look at the table of contents online.
3. How does Hil describe the method of Side Affects, in terms of selecting and discussing texts?
4. Why does Hil find ‘triumphant’ narratives about trans lives problematic? Can you think of an example of such a narrative?
5. Hil speaks about positionality in academic writing. How do you feel about this? Do you write about yourself in your work?

How often do you get to chat with the author of your major literary obsession and learn something about queer storytelling at the same time? I cannot believe I actually got to sit down with @lamyaisangry to talk about their brilliant novel Hijab Butch Blues, their essay writing and the queer future, which, according to Lamya, will be weird AF. Listen now, to hear about queer readings of the Quran, gender expression at the gym, new coming out narratives, and Lamya’s queer writing ancestors. Not to be missed!

References:

Lamya H. “A Fragile Dance: Queer Brown Futures (Or Lack Thereof).” Autostraddle, 23 April 2015.
https://www.autostraddle.com/a-fragile-dance-queer-brown-futures-or-lack-thereof-284789/
Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues
Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider
Zami
"A Litany for Survival"
Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For
Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina
Cavedweller
Stone Wall Award
American Library Association
https://www.lamyah.com/

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. Lamya writes in a very interesting form of memoir. What makes the structure of their novel unique?
2. What does Lamya think about coming out narratives and how they are changing in contemporary literature?
3. Who does Lamya name as her queer ancestors? Please look up at least one of them to find out a little more about their life and work.
4. What does Lamya say about the queer future? What do you think the queer future, or the future of queer narratives, will look like?

This episode is all about both/and: both trans and queer history, both kinship and relationships, both the past and the present. Mo Moulton, our illustrious guest this fortnight, is an expert in all of them. Mo is a historian of community, who is particularly interested in nonbinary methods to approach gender nonconforming figures of the past. In this episode, Mo talks about a queer and trans desire for kinship with the past, about chosen families, and (my favorite bit) about dogs and the trans experience. If I were you, I would listen right now and follow @queerlitpodcast and @movin_on_out on IG.

References:

Moulton, Mo. Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women . Hachette UK, 2019.

Moulton, Mo. ““Both Your Sexes”: A Non-Binary Approach to Gender History, Trans Studies and the Making of the Self in Modern Britain.” History Workshop Journal 95 (Spring 2023)

Moulton, Mo. “Dogs in the Picture: Restoring the Queer History of the Irish Family.” History of the Family (forthcoming 2024)

Getting Curious

Harlan Weaver, Bad Dog: Pit Bull Politics and Multispecies Justice (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021)

“Queer Pets” with Sarah Parker and Hannah Roche

https://www.spreaker. com/episode/queer-pets-with-sarah-parker-and-hannah-roche--47535404

Dorothy Stokes

Jules Gill-Peterson

C. Riley Snorton

Hil Malatino

Dorothy L. Sayers

Muriel St Clare Byrne

Edward Carpenter's The Intermediate Sex

Urning

Deadloch

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What constitutes a nonbinary approach to history?
2. Which three scholars does Mo refer to when they talk about beginning their research on the history of gender?
3. Mo explains that historians often apply the category of gender while speaking about the past while, at the same time, being very careful about not anachronistically using terms such as lesbian or trans. What does Mo think about this? Do you agree?
4. We use two terms that you may or may not be familiar with: 'rainbow washing' and the 'pink pound.' Please look them up and think about whether you have ever encountered an example of one of them.
5. What does Mo say about the perception of radical or transgressive identities? Do you agree? What are your thoughts on this?

Nonbinary Jesus. Did that get your attention? If so, this episode is for you. Historian extraordinaire Leah DeVun joins me to talk about the pre-modern history of nonbinary gender, about intersex brides, transitioning saints and what terms such as androgyne and hermaphrodite might tell us about conceptions of sex, gender and sexuality. Leah explains how thinking about nonbinary gender was and is a way of interrogating what it means to be human.

Join us for this journey into nonbinary history and religion and, if you just can’t get enough, follow @ldevun (IG), @DevunLeah (Twitter) and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram.

References:

The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender from Genesis to Renaissance (Columbia UP, 2021)
TSQ special issue: Trans*historicities, co-edited by Leah DeVun and Zeb Tortorici (2018)
Resemblance (2022-)
https://www.leahdevun.com/resemblance
Lamya H.’s Hijab Butch Blues
Gladstone’s Library
Trans/Formations (SCM Press, 2009)
Androgyne
Hermaphrodite
Judith Butler’s Who’s Afraid of Gender
Eleanor Rykener
Rolandina Ronchaia
Berengaria Castelló of Castelló d'Empúries
Joseph of Schönau
Genesis P-Orridge
Throbbing Gristle
Psychic TV

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. How does Leah define the term nonbinary? How is this similar to or different from other definitions you have come across?
2. Leah explains that thinking about nonbinary gender has an impact on categories other than gender. What does this imply and what would be examples?
3. Why does Leah say that focusing on a nonconforming individual should not be the only way to write nonbinary history?
4. Leah explains that when we learn about nonbinary people of the past, we usually meet them on the worst day of their life. What does this mean and how should this influence the way in which we read source texts?
5. Please look up one of the people Leah mentions in the episode and learn a little more about them.

How can we imagine a trans future? Kit Schuster joins me to talk about how transgression in fiction can help us think new futures. We speak about trans, nonbinary and gendernonconforming characters, norms and settings in science fiction, but Kit also stresses that their definition of trans is not limited to gender. Instead, Kit invites us to have our queer minds blown in all kinds of ways by future fictions but also by Gothic and horror texts. Apologies for the audio quality! Sometimes, a podcaster needs to improvise…

If you enjoyed this episode, why not follow @officialkitschuster and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram, where you can also learn more about all the great stuff Freiburg University is doing: @engsemfreiburg and @fs.anglistik.freiburg.

References:
“From Gothic Heroines to Monstrous Prom Queens: Gender Horror in Dracula and Jennifer’s Body,” Rethinking Gothic Transgressions of Gender and Sexuality New Directions in Gothic Studies. ed. Sarah Faber and Kerstin-Anja Münderlein. Routledge, 2024.
Queer Second Cities
https://queersecondcities.wordpress.com/
Queer Perseverance
https://www.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/events/topicweeks
Jennifer’s Body
Dracula
Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts
Afrofuturism
Generationship
Posthumanism
Frankenstein
Susan Stryker
Torey Peters’ Detransition, Baby!
Cael Keegan
Julian K. Jarboe’s Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel and “I AM A BEAUTIFUL BUG!”
The Murderbot Diaries
Amal El-Mohtar’s How To Lose The Time War
“One-Sided Relationships with Elaine Auyoung” How to Read Podcast
Homo Sapiens
Chappel Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and “Red Wine Supernova”

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What is Kit’s definition of ‘trans’? Can you think of a different one or do you have your own?
2. What does Kit think we can learn from trans future fictions? Do you agree?
3. When talking about the future, Kit says that “the past and the future are the same country”. What do you think they mean here?
4. What does Kit say about the collaborative nature of knowledge production in academia? Who inspires you to come up with new ideas?
5. Have you read a text that you think could qualify as trans future fiction?

The queerest thing you did in 2023: Part Two
Are you ready for 2024? I absolutely am not but to prepare for another queer year, I listen to more of your voice notes and I give you what you probably have not been waiting for: the queerest thing I did this year.

References:
ListenQueer
https://listenqueer.wordpress.com/
Kit Schuster
Jack Jen Gieseking
American Studies Meeting
Lindsey Freeman
Trans Community Run
Mr Samo
London LGBTQ+ Community Centre
Clea DuVall
Tugce Kayaal
Heather Love
Justin Torres’ Blackouts
Whitechapel Gallery
Nicole Eisenman
Susan Stryker

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What is the queerest thing you did this year?
2. Do you have a queer tradition for this time of year?
3. Can you relate to any of the experiences my guests talk about in this episode?
4. Are you doing okay? If not, let me know and I will help you find a supportive queer community space.

We're revisiting a holigay chat from two years ago, talking to a wonderful friend about how hard the festive season can be for queer and trans people.

CW: grief, death, trauma, religion, violence, antiqueerness, antitransness, family trauma

It’s here! It’s here! The Queer Lit end-of-year special has arrived and it comes in two parts. One you’ll get now and the other we’ll save for Christmas Eve. Tune in to hear me gush about all the lovely messages I received and listen to this year’s Queer Lit guests talk about their supergay highlights of 2023.

References:
Maria Sulimma
Queer Perseverance https://www.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/events/topicweeks
Queer Second Cities https://queersecondcities.wordpress.com/
Jan Wilm
The Argonauts
Joan Didion
White Elephant
Happiest Season
Out and Wild
Out on the Page
Elizabeth Chakrabarty’s Lessons in Love and Other Crimes
WeirdoMess Market
New House Art Space
The Common Press
The Queery
London LGBTQ Centre
Katherine Hubbard
Diane Watt
SGS MSc https://www.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate/sex-gender-and-sexualities-msc
I, Joan
The Globe
Kai Minosh Pyle
Trans*temporal kinship
Queer Christmas quiz to download here: https://lenamattheis.wordpress.com/teaching/
Grace Ellis’ Flung Out of Space
Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt
Carol

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What is the queerest thing you did this year?
2. Do you have a queer tradition for this time of year?
3. Can you relate to any of the experiences my guests talk about in this episode?
4. Are you doing okay? If not, let me know and I will help you find a supportive queer community space.