The Queer Temporality of Lesbian Fiction - Detailseite

This course deals with what could be described as the canon of lesbian representation predominantly from the British tradition. We will begin with Radclyffe Hall’s infamous The Well of Loneliness and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. The course will then chronologically follow developments in lesbian representation from the inter-war years to the high time of 1990s postmodern representations and to more contemporary texts across a range of genres. We will explore the problem of the category of ‘the lesbian’ in relation to aesthetic concerns of writing and authorship, as an identity category in relation to queer understandings of sexuality and non-normative and trans conceptions of gender, and in its intersections with other forms of discrimination. We will ask when the category of lesbian fiction garnered especial attention in British literary history and why this might also speak to a queer understanding of temporality.

It is strongly recommended to read at least some of the texts before the new semester starts. Additional materials will be provided on Moodle.

Master of English Literatures students attend the seminar and additional “Lektürekurs” (biweekly following the seminar, 16-18), Gender Studies students can also choose the Lektürekurs as an Option for “Vertiefung”. All other Gender and Master European Literatures students only attend the seminar (14-16).

Seminarsprache ist Englisch.

Recommended reading:

Hall, Radclyffe. The Well of Loneliness. 1928. London: Virago, 2008.

Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. Authoritative Text, Background and Contexts, Criticism. 1928. Ed. Madelyn Detloff. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2025.

Waters, Sarah. Fingersmith. London: Virago Press, 2002.

Evaristo, Bernardine. Girl, Woman, Other. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2019.