The Modernist Art of Queer Survival by Benjamin Bateman

The Modernist Art of Queer Survival by Benjamin Bateman

Drawing on a critical framework informed by queer theory and psychoanalysis, The Modernist Art of Queer Survival offers a new definition of survival, one that means more than merely the continuation of life. This book creates a literary archive of counterarguments to the conventional Darwinian evolutionary protocols of survival in early 20th century thought.

The Modernist Art of Queer Survival is an invigorating book, and one that will endureQueer theory has a future, and this is the kind of work that makes scholars want to be a part of it. * Hannah Roche, Modern Language Review *
Bringing foundational perspectives on queer theory to bear on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature, Bateman delivers a monograph that is equally informed by the historical and the theoretical, the aesthetic and the philosophical. It is a work of depth and insight, and a profound contribution not only to modernist studies, but also to forms of queer theory that could reap substantial rewards from the kind of modernist literary perspective through which Bateman stages the terms of his argument. * The Year's Work in English Studies *
An astute contribution to queer, modernist, and eco-criticism, The Modernist Art of Queer Survival offers a powerful alternative to the tendency in much queer theory to disclaim futurity. Through readings of James, Wilde, Forster,and Cather, Benjamin Bateman mounts a convincing counter-argument for 'queer survival' as future possibility:an embracing of the disruptions of self that occur upon inviting the unexpected to enter and become part of oneself. It is here in the kind of future Bateman proposes, where the concept of queer survival can expose the elastic contours of life and dissolve the boundaries between the animate and inanimate. * Joseph Boone, University of Southern California, Los Angeles *
Bringing impressive nuance to queer debates about temporality, which sometimes seem to insist in overly stark terms that queerness exists only in an unrealized future or in no future at all, Benjamin Bateman helps us recognize the dignity and creativity involved in the quotidian work of hanging on and letting go that constitutes queer survival. In a series of brilliant readings of modernist texts, his study disentangles survival from normative ideologies of success and sovereignty, demonstrating the ways that Oscar Wilde, Henry James, E. M. Forster, and Willa Cather ask us to rethink survival in terms of weakness, frangibility, and porousness. The result is a work of remarkable intelligence and ethical urgency, a vibrant resource not only for students of modernism and queer studies but for all of us trying to improvise our way into an uncertain future. * Brian Glavey, University of South Carolina *
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * A. J. Barlow, CHOICE *

Benjamin Bateman is a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, where he teaches modern and contemporary literature and gender and sexuality studies. He previously taught and served as the director of The Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities at California State University, Los Angeles.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780190676537
ISBN 10	0190676531
Title	The Modernist Art of Queer Survival
Author	Benjamin Bateman
Series	Modernist Literature And Culture
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Year published	2017-11-16
Number of pages	174
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.