Overview
Bridges the gap between queer studies and aging studies
Presents a literary and cultural critical perspective of LGBTQ narratives
Contributes to debates about negotiating the cultural, sociological, political, and medical issue of aging
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Confines of Straight Time
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Front Matter
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In an Era of Liberations
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Front Matter
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Transitions of the 1990s
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Front Matter
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Queer Aging in the Young Twenty-First Century
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Front Matter
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Queer Aging Now
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Exploring representations of queer aging in North American fiction, this book illuminates a rich yet previously unheeded intersection within American culture. At a time when older LGBTQ persons gradually gain visibility in gerontological studies and in the media, this work provides a critical perspective concerned with the ways in which the narratives and images we have at our disposal shape our realities. Each chapter shines a spotlight on a significant work of queer fiction, beginning with post-WWII novels and ending with filmic representations of the 2010s, exploring narratives as both reflections and agents of broader cultural negotiations concerning queer sexuality and aging. As a result, the book not only redresses queer aging’s history of invisibility, but also reveals narratives of queer aging to be particularly apt in casting new light on the ways in which growing older is perceived and conceptualized in North American culture.
Reviews
“Linda Hess’s Queer Aging in North American Fiction breaks new ground in queer literary studies by arguing not only for the queerness of aging in a culture obsessed with youth but also for the unique experiences of queer-identified people undergoing the aging process. Bringing together work by Dorothy Baker, James Baldwin, Andrew Holleran, and Suzette Mayr—as well as several examples from popular culture—Hess offers an intersectional account of aging that treats senescence as both struggle and opportunity.” (Benjamin Bateman, Lecturer in Post-1900 British Literature, The University of Edinburgh and author of The Modernist Art of Queer Survival (2017))
“This work makes a timely intervention in understandings of queer aging in North American culture as it has been conceptualised from World War II to the present. Focussing on literature and film, it provides a compelling critical study of the intersections of aging and queer identities. Moreover, it shows that narratives of queer aging provide a meaningful lens to examine how growing old is viewed and understood in North America.” (Ros Jennings, Professor in Aging, Culture and Media, University of Gloucestershire, UK)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Linda M. Hess is Assistant Professor of American Studies (wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiterin) at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. She has published articles on the intersection of aging studies and queer studies, and she is co-editor of Exploring the Fantastic: Genre, Ideology, and Popular Culture (2018).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Queer Aging in North American Fiction
Authors: Linda M. Hess
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03466-5
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-03465-8Published: 05 February 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-03466-5Published: 24 January 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 240
Topics: North American Literature, Literary Theory, Queer Studies