Narrative Theory Unbound: Queer and Feminist Interventions

by ROBYN R. WARHOL, Susan S Lanser

Overview

Under the bold banner of Narrative Theory Unbound: Queer and Feminist Interventions, editors Robyn Warhol and Susan S. Lanser gather a diverse spectrum of queer and feminist challenges to the theory and interpretation of narrative. The first edited collection to bring feminist, queer, and narrative theories into direct conversation with one another, this anthology places gender and sexuality at the center of contemporary theorizing about the production, reception, forms, and functions of narrative texts.   
 
Through twenty-one essays prefaced by a cogent history of the field, Narrative Theory Unbound offers new perspectives on narrative discourse and its constituent elements; on intersectional approaches that recognize race, religion, and national culture as integral to understanding sexuality and gender; on queer temporalities; on cognitive research; and on lifewriting in graphic, print, and digital constellations. Exploring genres ranging from reality TV to fairy tales to classical fiction, contributors explore the thorny, contested relationships between feminist and queer theory, on the one hand, and between feminist/queer theory and contemporary narratologies, on the other. Rather than aiming for cohesiveness or conclusiveness, the collection stages open-ended debates designed to unbind the assumptions that have kept gender and sexuality on the periphery of narrative theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814252031
Publisher:	Ohio State University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2016
Series:	THEORY INTERPRETATION NARRATIV
Edition description:	1
Pages:	412
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Robyn Warhol is Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English at The Ohio State University. Susan S. Lanser is Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations viii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction Robyn Warhol Susan S. Lanser 1

Part I Narrative Discourse Unbound

1 Toward (a Queerer and) More (Feminist) Narratology Susan S. Lanser 23

2 Out of the Bind: From Structure to System in Popular Narratives Judith Roof 43

3 Giving an Account of Themselves: Metanarration and the Structure of Address in The Office and The Real Housewives Robyn Warhol 59

4 Hypothetical Focalization and Queer Grief Peggy Phelan 78

Part II Intersectional Narrative Theories

5 Religion, Intersectionality, and Queer/Feminist Narrative Theory: The Bildungsromane of Ahdaf Soueif, Leila Aboulela, and Randa Jarrar Susan Stanford Friedman 101

6 Intersectional Narratology in the Study of Narrative Empathy Suzanne Keen 123

7 Empathy and 1970s Novels by Third World Women Sue J. Kim 147

Part III Lifewriting, Gender, Sex

8 Screenshots in the Longue Durée: Feminist Narratology, Digital Humanities, and Collective Biographies of Women Alison Booth 169

9 The Space of Graphic Narrative: Mapping Bodies, Feminism, and Form Hillary Chute 194

10 The Narrative Case for Queer Biography Wendy Moffat 210

11 "No Future" vs. "It Gets Better": Queer Prospects for Narrative Temporality Jesse Matz 227

Part IV Emplotment, or the Shapes of Stories

12 Maurice, or Coming Out Straight Paul Morrison 253

13 Strange Influence: Queer Etiology in The Picture of Dorian Gray Valerie Rohy 275

14 Gendered Narratives in Animal Studies Susan Fraiman 293

15 Sex-Text-Cortex Kay Young 312

Part V Challenges: Un/Doing Narrative Theory

16 Towards a Queer Feminism; Or, Feminist Theories and/as Queer Narrative Studies Abby Coykendall 325

17 Queer/Feminist/Narrative: On the Limits of Reciprocal Engagement Martin Joseph Ponce 334

18 Critically Affirmative Reconfigurations Claudia Breger 340

19 Narrative Causes: Inside and Out Ellen Peel 348

20 The Human Problem Shalyn Claggett 353

Afterword Irene Kacandes 361

About the Editors and Contributors 373

Index 377

Editorial Reviews

This is an important, field-changing book. It should be required reading for any course on narrative theory, and it could well be used in courses on literary theory more broadly as well as in courses on feminist and/or queer literary theory and criticism.” —Margaret Homans, Yale University

From the Publisher