Literature: Good As You - LGBTQ+ Literature in the Twentieth Century

These texts are concerned with literature’s role in breaking taboos, and bringing into the mainstream issues that were formerly and still are in some sections of society regarded as transgressive. Though this is an important component of the course, and is still a live issue, given changing political circumstances in Europe, the U.S. and Africa, this course is not designed to argue a specific perspective, but instead to evaluate the contribution made to literature by these authors, each of whom was or is a member of the LGBT+ community.

We will range from Woolf’s love-letter, Orlando, written to Vita-Sackville West, through Australia, Europe and wartime London with Patrick White, both novels which touch on the issue of being transgender; examine the love poetry of Auden and Gunn, particularly his remarkable work, The Man With Night-Sweats, ending with Edouard Louis’ semi-autobiographical novel, The End of Eddy, describing poverty and prejudice in Northern France.

You will discover that this literature is of the first order, and will be minded to explore further the voices of those who for much of the history of Western literature were constrained to self-censor their subject matter.