Next meeting: The 'Queerness' of Fragments, 29th May

Hello all,

We’ve talked quite a bit in our previous meetings about the disruptive, against-the-grain nature of many of our Fragments extracts, so I thought it might be interesting to examine fragmentation from a queer perspective. 

I’ve chosen the opening chapter of Edelman’s polemic No Future as our piece of theory. It’s massively, mischievously inflammatory (pretty much what theory would look like if it was written by The Sex Pistols), and has implications for many of the issues we’re exploring in our individual projects, so I thought it would provoke a really interesting discussion. Edelman’s premise is that rather than attempting projects of inclusion and reclamation, the queer subject should embrace the inherent negativity of their position, eschewing the dominant cultural ideal of what he calls ‘reproductive futurism’. His arguments explore and disrupt established perceptions of family, society, patriarchy, linearity and temporality, so there’s plenty of scope for discussion!

I’ve chosen Miss Havisham’s first appearance in Great Expectations as my extract, as I think it ties in really well with Edelman’s idea of queer temporality. Beatrice has put together some extracts from 'Goblin Market' so we can think about the ways in which even fantastic narratives might submit to patriarchal norms of child-rearing.

We'll be meeting in Room 112, at 6pm on Tuesday the 29th of May. Looking forward to reading everyone else’s choices!