Body trouble: Straight men, queer theory, and the American novel
Abstract
In this study I seek to show how a dominant discourse such as (compulsory) Heterosexuality is built upon powerful, narrowly defined bodily desires. Working with male characters from the novels of Henry James, William Faulkner, John Updike, John Rechy, and Anne Rice, I contend that the Grand Narrative of Heterosexuality, which should give the most satisfactions to heterosexual men as the seemingly most privileged beneficiaries of Heterosexuality, ultimately usurps even "straight" male desires, denying men alternate modes of satisfaction and living. At the center of all issues of Heterosexual control is the body, which I contend has been elided or even discarded by current poststructuralist queer theory. In attempting to correct this problem and in seeking a strategy for constructing alternate narratives of the desire, I turn to Maurice Merleau-Ponty for a theory of the body and Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari for a theory of desire. In combining these two seemingly disparate theoretical modes, I propose what I call a post-phenomenological queer theory, which I hope will offer both straight men and those designated as other the means to begin building alternate narratives of desire and living.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
O'Donnell, Purdue University.
Subject Area
American literature|Social research
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