James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Gay & Lesbian, Black
Cover of the book James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination by Matt Brim, University of Michigan Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Matt Brim ISBN: 9780472120598
Publisher: University of Michigan Press Publication: September 29, 2014
Imprint: University of Michigan Press Language: English
Author: Matt Brim
ISBN: 9780472120598
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Publication: September 29, 2014
Imprint: University of Michigan Press
Language: English

The central figure in black gay literary history, James Baldwin has become a familiar touchstone for queer scholarship in the academy. Matt Brim’s James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination draws on the contributions of queer theory and black queer studies to critically engage with and complicate the project of queering Baldwin and his work. Brim argues that Baldwin animates and, in contrast, disrupts both the black gay literary tradition and the queer theoretical enterprise that have claimed him. More paradoxically, even as Baldwin’s fiction brilliantly succeeds in imagining queer intersections of race and sexuality, it simultaneously exhibits striking queer failures, whether exploiting gay love or erasing black lesbian desire. Brim thus argues that Baldwin’s work is deeply marked by ruptures of the “unqueer” into transcendent queer thought—and that readers must sustain rather than override this paradoxical dynamic within acts of queer imagination.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The central figure in black gay literary history, James Baldwin has become a familiar touchstone for queer scholarship in the academy. Matt Brim’s James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination draws on the contributions of queer theory and black queer studies to critically engage with and complicate the project of queering Baldwin and his work. Brim argues that Baldwin animates and, in contrast, disrupts both the black gay literary tradition and the queer theoretical enterprise that have claimed him. More paradoxically, even as Baldwin’s fiction brilliantly succeeds in imagining queer intersections of race and sexuality, it simultaneously exhibits striking queer failures, whether exploiting gay love or erasing black lesbian desire. Brim thus argues that Baldwin’s work is deeply marked by ruptures of the “unqueer” into transcendent queer thought—and that readers must sustain rather than override this paradoxical dynamic within acts of queer imagination.

More books from University of Michigan Press

Cover of the book International Capital Flows in Calm and Turbulent Times by Matt Brim
Cover of the book The Most Noble of People by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Leadership Organizations in the House of Representatives by Matt Brim
Cover of the book The Influence of Campaign Contributions in State Legislatures by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Making Human by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Making Men Ridiculous by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Between a River and a Mountain by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Category 5 by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Negotiating Disability by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Memories of the Revolution by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Congressional Parties, Institutional Ambition, and the Financing of Majority Control by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Idlewild by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Anne Carson by Matt Brim
Cover of the book The Ghosts of the Avant-Garde(s) by Matt Brim
Cover of the book Louie Louie by Matt Brim
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy