Welcome to a miniseries about gender nonconformity pronouns in literature! In this episode, the amazing linguist Laura Paterson asks me many clever questions about singular they in literature. We talk about the function of pronouns, common misunderstanding about singular they, and neutral versus gender-nonconforming use of this fantastic third person pronoun. Whether you would like reading recommendations (Virginia Woolf, Lamya H, Rae Spoon…) or some insight into what singular they can do in creative and academic writing, this episode might have some answers – or questions – for you.  

References

Lena Mattheis’ Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (Oxford University Press, 2026)
Laura Paterson (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Pronouns (Routledge, 2023)
Anna Livia
Lamya H’s Hijab Butch Blues (2023)
Rae Spoon’s Green Glass Ghosts (2021)
Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body (1992)
Anne Garréta’s Sphinx (1986)
Charlie Josephine’s I, Joan (2022)
The Globe
https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/identity-in-i-joan/
Kit Heyam
Laura Paterson and Georgina Turner (eds) Approaches to Discourses of Marriage (Routledge, 2024)
Lal Zimman  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.     What is a pronoun?
2.     How does Lena define gender-nonconformity pronouns?
3.     Why is it relevant whether a narrator comments on pronoun use or not? Which examples does Lena provide?
4.     Which literary texts do Laura and Lena mention? Which one would you like to read and why?
5.     What do Laura and Lena discuss about pronouns in academic writing? Do you have an established practice for this?