Journal article : Review
Surviving melancholy and mourning: a queer politics of damage in Italian literary representations of same-sex parenting
- Abstract:
- While family forms are ever more diverse, there are few critical analyses of the ways in which LGBTQ families have been represented in fiction. This article explores recent Italian novels by Cristiana Alicata, Melania Mazzucco and Chiara Francini that depict lesbian and gay parents and their children. In all these novels at least one gay or lesbian parent dies. Drawing on Judith Butler's work on mourning and melancholia, I problematize the persistent spectre of grief and loss attached to gay and lesbian parenting. However, reflections by Heather Love also prompt me to explore what Love calls a "politics of damage", or an attempt to see past the looming threat of inevitable homosexual doom towards the queer, subversive elements of these narratives, which question normative conceptions of the family and open up space to reflect on 'alternative' parental models.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 310.5KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.17454/pam-1904
Authors
- Publisher:
- Rosenberg and Sellier
- Journal:
- Phenomenology and Mind More from this journal
- Volume:
- 19
- Pages:
- 54-70
- Publication date:
- 2020-12-01
- Acceptance date:
- 2019-09-01
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2239-4028
- ISSN:
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2280-7853
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Subtype:
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Review
- Pubs id:
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2037606
- Local pid:
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pubs:2037606
- Deposit date:
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2025-01-04
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Charlotte Ross
- Copyright date:
- 2020
- Rights statement:
- © The Author(s) 2020. The text only may be used under licence CC BY 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) may be subject to specific use terms.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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