Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Santa Ana, Jeffrey. | Olster, Stacey
Date
2013-12-01
Keywords
Michael Cunningham, Monique Truong, The Book of Salt, The Hours | Literature
Department
Department of English.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77575
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Monique Truong's The Book of Salt and Michael Cunningham's The Hours include fictional portrayals of famous writers who interact with similarly queer protagonists. These writers, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas and Virginia Woolf, are significant because of their reputations as iconic queer figures. Stein and Toklas are remembered as a progressive lesbian couple; Woolf is celebrated as an influential feminist writer. While initially it would seem that the protagonists and the writers could unite based on a shared queer identity, the novels imply that the hierarchies that are prevalent in these queer communities prevent the characters from becoming allies. Such hierarchies, which are perpetuated by a heteronormative society, suppress queer individuals based on their race, class and gender. Ultimately, the only solution the novels provide for these individuals to combat the hierarchies that restrict them is through the creation of discourse, and, in both books, the characters interact with the writing process as readers and writers. Through these efforts as readers and writers, the characters are able to shape some understanding of their own queer identities. However, the protagonists still struggle with discourse, as only those of a privileged race and class have the power to produce and spread discourse. As a result, the ability of these queer individuals to overcome the hierarchies that bind them proves largely unsuccessful, emphasizing the still prevalent struggle of contemporary queer individuals in a society that reinforces hierarchies based on normalized heterosexual practices. | 48 pages
Recommended Citation
Nelson, Caitlin, "The Significance of Famously Queer Writers in The Book of Salt and The Hours" (2013). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 3375.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/3375