The New Reading Rainbow: Redefining Queer Literature

Author: Colin Kimiecik

Field of Study: Comparative Literature

Program Affiliation: IASH

Faculty Mentors: Cullen Goldblatt

Easel: 37

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: What makes a work of literature “queer”, and how can these works be meaningfully organized without adhering to the same rigid boundaries and heteronormative structures that queerness seeks to deconstruct? Defining queer literature is difficult because queerness cannot be easily parsed in the same way other genres are. World literature operates similarly, and instead can be understood as a mode of reading through the transition of literature across cultural boundaries. Furthermore, some scholars who study world literature argue that world literature has the capacity to deconstruct normative societal constructs. This paper argues that synthesizing world literature with queer theory can form a new conception of queer literature. This argument will be developed through an analysis of queer theorists and world literature scholars, by drawing comparisons between them. This analysis reveals a new definition of queer literature that establishes an overall end goal being the importance of challenging society’s heteronormative structures.