One episode more! In this bonus track, Nemo Martin (Royal Holloway) tells me about their research on race, racism, and racist tropes in Hugo’s classic Les Misérables, but also in the fanfiction based on Hugo. Nemo kindly shares some insights on how these depictions of race are entangled with nonnormative genders and asexuality. What Nemo doesn’t mention in the recording is that they’re also a brilliant writer and podcast creator. Queer Asian pirates is all I’m saying…

Find out more about Nemo on Twitter (@zeus_japonicus and @lesmispodcast) and on their website https://www.nemomartin.com/ and follow @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and Twitter for more books and more gay.

People, texts and concepts mentioned:

#UntoldTales
https://untoldlgbtqtales.wordpress.com/
Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Fanfiction
andré carrington
Romani
Esmeralda
Owarinaki Tabiji (終わりなき旅路)

Footnote from Nemo: “The “Racism is something whites define as bad action by others” quote is from Stephanie M. Wildman and Adrienne D. Davis, Language and Silence: Making Systems of Privilege Visible, 35 Santa Clara L. Rev. 881 (1995), available at: https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview/vol35/iss3/4. The Rromani person who talked about their opinion of Javert as Rrom: https://stfugadje-blog.tumblr.com/post/41556640377/theres-a-grief-that-cant-be-spoken.”



Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.Nemo mentions the quote “Racism is something other white people do.”. What do you think that entails?
2.How might fanfiction almost unwittingly engage in racist depictions?
3.Which example does Nemo give for a racist trope in Hugo’s writing?
4.Nemo also briefly speaks about asexuality. How does sexuality intersect with race and gender here?
5.Can you think of a character from literary history that we could read as asexual?