Publication Date

2022

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Gomez-Vega, Ibis

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of English

Abstract

This dissertation explores poetry and memoirs written by recent poets who identify as gay, ethnic, and American. As a result of the complex process of both integrating their intersecting identities and confronting various forms of oppression, the work of gay ethnic American poets has become necessarily more layered than that of their white heteronormative counterparts. They have also transformed a genre traditionally defined by the limited and limiting category “gay” into a multivalent “queer” medium that embraces a futurity of vast and unapologetically ambiguous possibilities. Their very act of emphasizing ethnicity and sexuality in relation to other intersecting identities ultimately highlights and transcends the archetypes and motifs of conventional gay literature. Using critical race, ethnic, feminist, and queer theory, I show how contemporary authors incorporate a multitude of intersecting subjectivities under the umbrella of intrinsically gay identity. Chapter one emphasizes the Vietnamese diaspora, as told by Ocean Vuong, and a reshaping of the coming-out genre, for the Vietnamese mother’s inability to comprehend the moment of coming out reconceptualizes it as an opportunity to share secrets beyond sexual orientation. Chapter two details Saeed Jones’ poetry and memoir that illustrates the heteronormative policing enacted by a family that understands what it means to survive as Black individuals within a systemically racist nation yet cannot fathom the thought of queer identification. As Jones leaves the family household, he transforms his constricting heteronormative attire into queer attire that expresses his liberation from gender constrictions. This form of freedom, however, does not shield him from the marginalization occurring even at the margins, for, as Jones reveals, Black gay men continue to be fetishized and ostracized by the general gay community. Chapter three focuses on Danez Smith’s explorations of POZ (HIV+) identity in Don’t Call Us Dead and Homie. Mobilizing theories on illness in relation to metaphors and postmodernism (as articulated by Susan Sontag and David Morris), chapter three emphasizes the intersections of being Black, genderqueer, and POZ during an age of antiretroviral therapy. Lastly, in chapter four, I analyze Richard Blanco’s poetry and memoirs to exhibit the shift in focus from within and throughout the author’s work. The first half explores the Cuban American’s inability to embrace a Cuban and an American identity, whereas the second half considers Blanco’s most recent work as a representation of differential consciousness, the notion that differences uncover our similarities. These poets’ work thus illustrates a shift in gay literature that calls for queer, intersectional interpretations.

Extent

251 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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