{"id":8416,"date":"2021-05-28T19:57:37","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T23:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/?p=8416"},"modified":"2023-07-14T15:15:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T19:15:16","slug":"building-a-queer-canon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachersandwritersmagazine.org\/building-a-queer-canon\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a Queer Canon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201c[Queerness] is not something to be ashamed of, and I\u2019m coming from a place of privilege because I was not ashamed. I want [my students] to feel the same freedom, and that\u2019s why in my teaching, in my writing, in the artists I have picked for us to examine, I need all of those identities to be apparent.\u201d<\/p>– Roya Marsh, 2017<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not uncommon to credit our high school teachers with the beginnings of our writing career, or at least its earliest encouragement. If we\u2019re lucky, our English classes draw new maps for us; we see the world expand upon itself, and paths wind away toward the horizon, beckoning for us to follow. But the impact of those classrooms does not end with literary scholarship. Beyond analytical training and the Great American Novel, English classes have the ability to provide space for underrepresented identities. Any kind of student can find a mirror in literature\u2014including queer kids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is still a relatively new development. Despite an existence spanning human history, queer stories have only really entered the mainstream market within the past couple of decades. For a long time, we only had a few archetypes by which to model ourselves; as with any identity, when we see more specific and nuanced representations of ourselves, we understand more possibilities for who we can become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first began working on this project, I had narrowed my scope to the pedagogical Western canon, those works which have been imbued with significance by those who felt they could bestow it\u2014mostly white, mostly straight, mostly upper-class, mostly cisgender. My goal was to explain that queerness in literature does not need to be sought out from the sidelines (though it is also an important exercise to read those writers who have not seen acclaim)\u2014but that it exists within the confines of the traditional canon, which is brimming with works from LGBTQ writers already found on Advanced Placement reading lists. But this conception of \u201ccanon\u201d is deficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A redefinition of the canon does not have to replace what already exists\u2014instead, it broadens the scope. Human experience is expansive, and literature reflects that. A restrictive canon maintains exclusivity, not prestige. Our new canon has the potential to be as fluid as queerness itself, bending genre rather than bowing to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LGBTQ+ writers do exist within the Western canon. Their queerness is considered incidental, their writing respected for other reasons: voice, symbolism, imagery, narration. But often, a writer\u2019s queerness seeps into the work, shrouded by other elements of style, though still unmistakable\u2014if you\u2019re looking for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forster, Baldwin, Woolf, Dickinson, Whitman, Hughes: these writers produced stories, essays, and poetry that explored queerness explicitly. But even in their writing which was not plainly queer, it is possible, if not easy, to find threads of their identity. E. M. Forster wrote Maurice<\/em> as a story of gay love, and did not seek to publish the novel during his lifetime, for fear of retribution; A Room with a View<\/em>, more widely read, examines the murkiness of romantic feeling, and the secrecy it breeds (particularly in Edwardian England). Despite not being the \u201cqueer\u201d novel, themes of queerness\u2014of living with and hiding romantic feelings\u2014overwhelm A Room with a View. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching queerness in the classroom does not have to focus on sexuality. Instead, we can look at the work produced by queer writers, and deepen our analysis through various lenses. It is not about projecting identity onto literature\u2014many literature students learn early on not to infuse a piece of writing with knowledge of its author\u2014but rather, reading with intention. Identity is not incidental. It is foolish to assume we can ignore its influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even without teaching a queer text, teaching queer writers creates a safe environment for LGBTQ+ students. It\u2019s powerful, even now, to not only view but think critically about art created by queer people. We\u2019re working toward a future in which queer writing is abundant and widely read. Until we get there, we have a wealth of literature ready to step into a new light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a reading list of works commonly included in the Western canon, supplemented by novels and collections which have been historically marginalized. More challenging than finding these texts is finding those which depict and explore queer lives candidly; like Forster and his Maurice<\/em>, many queer stories have been hidden, augmented by editors for public reception, or discarded altogether. But here, we can endeavor to develop a holistic survey of queer literature, challenge genre, and oppose outdated standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Queer Canon Reading List<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bastard Out of Carolina<\/em>, Dorothy Allison<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If They Come For Us<\/em>, Fatimah Asghar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Country<\/em>, James Baldwin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go Tell It on the Mountain<\/em>, James Baldwin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giovanni\u2019s Room<\/em>, James Baldwin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun Home<\/em>, Alison Bechdel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patsy<\/em>, Nicole Dennis-Ben<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They Don’t Kill You Because They’re Hungry, They Kill You Because They’re Full, <\/em>Mark Bibbins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poems<\/em>, Elizabeth Bishop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My \u00c1ntonia<\/em>, Willa Cather<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Queen of the Night<\/em>, Alexander Chee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Awakening<\/em>, Kate Chopin*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plain Bad Heroines<\/em>, emily m. danforth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Miseducation of Cameron Post<\/em>, emily m. danforth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Passage to India<\/em>, E.M. Forster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Room with a View<\/em>, E.M. Forster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard\u2019s End<\/em>, E.M. Forster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howl and Other Poems<\/em>, Allen Ginsberg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998<\/em>, Nikki Giovanni<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleanness<\/em>, Garth Greenwell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry<\/em>, Essex Hemphill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Price of Salt<\/em>, Patricia Highsmith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mucus in My Pineal Gland, <\/em>Juliana Huxtable<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good Talk<\/em>, Mira Jacob<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How We Fight For Our Lives<\/em>, Saeed Jones<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haruko\/Love Poems<\/em>, June Jordan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Road<\/em>, Jack Kerouac<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humiliation<\/em>, Wayne Koestenbaum<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gypsy Ballads<\/em>, Federico Garcia Lorca<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her Body and Other Parties<\/em>, Carmen Maria Machado<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Dream House<\/em>, Carmen Maria Machado<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, <\/em>T Kira Madden<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Member of the Wedding<\/em>, Carson McCullers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chelsea Girls<\/em>, Eileen Myles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Argonauts<\/em>, Maggie Nelson <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bluets<\/em>, Maggie Nelson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violets and Other Tales<\/em>, Alice Dunbar Nelson-Moore<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, <\/em>Jenn Shapland<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homie<\/em>, Danez Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Earth We\u2019re Briefly Gorgeous, <\/em>Ocean Vuong<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brideshead Revisited<\/em>, Evelyn Waugh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaves of Grass<\/em>, Walt Whitman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Song of Myself<\/em>, Walt Whitman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Importance of Being Earnest<\/em>, Oscar Wilde<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Streetcar Named Desire<\/em>, Tennessee Williams<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Brooklyn<\/em>, Jacqueline Woodson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Dalloway<\/em>, Virginia Woolf<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the Lighthouse<\/em>, Virginia Woolf<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close to the Knives<\/em>, David Wojnarowicz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems of Constantine P. Cavafy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems of Emily Dickinson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems of Audre Lorde<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems of Frank O\u2019Hara<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems of Mary Oliver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems of Adrienne Rich<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems of Sappho<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plays of Maria Irene Fornes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

There is so much stunning queerness in contemporary literature that has yet to be canonized, if they ever will be\u2014and the only way to ensure its growth is to read those LGBTQs+ writers who are living and writing now. Continue your reading with articles from our archives, essays and interviews from our Art of Teaching Writing series, and a selection of links for further recommendations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

From the <\/strong>Teachers & Writers <\/em><\/strong>Archives:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Teaching James Baldwin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ARTivism Links & Resources<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Greek Girls<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching Whitman in High School <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting the Word Out: The New York Writers Coalition Helps Develop both Voice and Audience for those Who Have Neither<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misery Is Fun: Using Langston Hughes’s Black Misery<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lost Sense: A Favorite Writing Assignment<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Teachers & Writers<\/em> Interviews<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Claiming A Seat At The Table Of Belonging: An Interview With Poet And Educator Sarah M. Sala<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Talk: Roya Marsh On Student Voice, Black Queer Joy, And Getting Out Of The Way<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Home at the Nuyorican: An Interview with Lois Elaine Griffith<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Home at the Nuyorican: A Continued Conversation with Lois Griffith<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview with James Lecesne: How to Be a Human Being <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview With Nikky Finney: Say Hard Things Tender<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Art of Teaching Writing<\/em> Essays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Creating An Inclusive Classroom For Transgender Students: Lessons From The Corporate And Nonprofit World<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fundamentally About Access: Reflections On Creating A Trans-inclusive Learning Space<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How (Not) To Teach Gender<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better Advocacy for Undocumented Students<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cannibals<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncovering Students\u2019 Stories<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glories Strung Like Beads: The Queer Brilliance of Joe Brainard\u2019s I Remember<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

More Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

25 Queer Poets to Read Now and Forever – Out.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queer Love Poems: LGBTQ love poetry by and for the queer community – Poetry Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Queer Reading List from LGBTQ-Identified Authors at the PDX Book Festival – Los Angeles Review of Books<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

25 Black Queer Books to Honor Protests and Pride Month – Lambda Legal<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lambda Literary Review<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 38 Best Queer YA Novels – Vulture<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LGBTQ Poetry – Poets.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queer Black Poets Since the Harlem Renaissance: A Reading List – Literary Hub<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poetry Collections About Being a Queer Person of Color – Electric Lit<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

*Though Chopin did not identify as queer during her lifetime, I would be remiss to exclude The Awakening<\/em> from this list, because of its rich lesbian themes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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