The prompt for Response Paper #2 can be accessed here. RP #2, along with any missing work, will be due by 11:59 pm on December 20th.
Recent Happenings
- Extra Material Related to Paris is BurningImportant Articles: Unseen Footage: Interview with the Cast of Paris is Burning by Joan Rivers (Interesting but also Uncomfortable) Judith Butler’s Famous … Continue reading “Extra Material Related to Paris is Burning“
- Discussion Post #7: Machado’s In the Dream HouseFor Tuesday, 11/21, you must read Part I (up to page 60) of In the Dream House and then complete the post … Continue reading “Discussion Post #7: Machado’s In the Dream House“
- Response Paper #2 PromptThe prompt for the second response paper is now available for your review below. Note that the final draft of this essay … Continue reading “Response Paper #2 Prompt”
Welcome
This is the website for the English 25149 course, Queer Melancholia, taught by Jacob Aplaca at Hunter College, CUNY. Contact information for the Fall 2023 semester is available under the “Syllabus” tab above.
About the Course
In our contemporary moment, public discourses about queer life and history often demand an unrelenting positivity or optimism (e.g. LGBTQ+ Pride, It Gets Better, etc.). While there are certainly good reasons to advance the project of imagining a brighter, more inclusive future, it seems equally important to resist the impulse to minimize or ignore the traumas of the past, many of which still haunt queer individuals and communities today. This course explores a range of literary works through the lenses of queerness, melancholia, and other negative affects—depression, grief, shame—in order to consider what happens when we refuse to turn away from the darker stories, histories, and emotions of queer life. Broad questions we will consider include: How might the refusal to “get over” personal and/or historical trauma provide avenues for meaningful critical, creative, and political work? How might an embrace of melancholia and other “negative” emotions help to foster a sense of queer belonging? What do we gain by encountering stories in which happiness is ultimately refused or made unavailable?
