As we leave LGBTQ history month and go into Women’s History Month, the EFL have gathered a selection of the newest books in our library that focus on the lives of women, or on queer lives.
Maaza Mengiste. 2020. The Shadow King.
Set during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King follows the women who longed to do more than care for the wounded and bury the dead, so take action in the war. The novel focuses on the narratives of women soldiers who were written out of African history.
Moulton, Mo. 2019. Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World For Women.
Moulton’s biography follows a group of women who studied at Somerville College, Oxford, in 1912 and later created the ‘Mutual Admiration Society’. They were barred from receiving degrees although taking part in classes and exams until 1920 when they were awarded degrees retrospectively.The book explores a handful of these women’s lives, their friendships, and the opportunities they had which allowed them to pioneer into modernity.
Bradway, T. & McCallum, E. L. 2019. After Queer Studies: Literature, Theory and Sexuality in the 21st Century.
After Queer Studies explores the literary influences that helped queer theory develop in academic thought, and what continues to shape its evolution as a critical practice. The book examines the interdisciplinary origins of queer studies and how queer studies has shaped concerns in literary thought and ways of interpreting and examining texts.
Looby, C. 2017. “The Man Who Thought Himself a Woman” and Other Queer Nineteenth Century Short Stories.
“Perhaps it is no coincidence that the nineteenth century—the century when, it has been said, sexuality as such (and various taxonomized sexual identities) were invented—is the period when American short stories were invented, and when they were the queerest.” – Looby, 2017.
In this collection edited by Looby, narratives from a range of nineteenth century American writers, of all genders and fame, are brought together to highlight a range of queer depictions in short stories.Topics explored include sexual desire, gender density and erotic attachment, to reveal the queerness of nineteenth century literature.
Kim, J. J. 2017. Queer Difficulty in Art and Poetry.
This anthology treats ‘queer’ not as an identity, but as an activity through considering the ways of understanding the difficulty of the epistemology of the closet. The essays focus on a range of subjects including botany, photography, painting, film and poetry. Through close analysis of these items and critical theories the book offers a new approach to queer studies.
For more new arrivals and further reading, browse through the EFL LibraryThing and books tagged with February 2020, or LGBT.