Queer Kinship in Sarah Schulman’s AIDS Novels (Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature)

Queer Kinship in Sarah Schulman's AIDS Novels is the first book to extensively discuss the works of Sarah Schulman, a journalist, activist and globally recognized novelist. This research monograph juxtaposes the works about the AIDS epidemic which were well-received by the mainstream America with Schulman's own output as a “bard of AIDS burnout,” in the words of Edmund White. In contrast with the prevailing representations of the epidemic, her works emphasize the importance of queer kinship, chosen families and AIDS activist groups that fall outside of the heteronorm. Bearing witness to these voluntary collectivities means also surviving the traumatizing experience of ongoing, repeated death and refusing the idea of an easy solution to the crisis. The monograph tracks the tension between the dominant narratives about the epidemic and those articulated from the excluded positions, arguing that Schulman reformulates queer kinship as the locus of social change. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Notes Bibliography Chapter 1 Queer Kinship and the Culture Industry The Biopolitics of the Culture Industry Sex and Kinship The Scapegoating of Patient O Thicker Than Blood Monogamy as a Cure A Simulacrum of Diversity Notes Bibliography Chapter 2 A Lifetime of Resistance Bibliography Chapter 3 Activists and Bohemians Forgetful Bohemians Meaningful Kinship Acting Up for Justice Notes Bibliography Chapter 4 Witnessing among Rats “Familial Homophobia ...” “... and Its Consequences” Unbearable Witnessing No Country for the Rats Note Bibliography Chapter 5 Towards Queer Kinship Queer Fractures One of Us The Normal Love Notes Bibliography Conclusion Index