Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature: Fantastic Incarnations and the Deconstruction of Theology (Perspectives on Fantasy)

Fantasy literature inhabits the realms of the orthodox and heterodox, the divine and demonic simultaneously, making it uniquely positioned to imaginatively re-envision Christian theology from a position of difference. Having an affinity for the monstrous and the 'other', and a preoccupation with desires and forms of embodiment that subvert dominant understandings of reality, fantasy texts hold hitherto unexplored potential for articulating queer and feminist religious perspectives. Focusing primarily on fantastic literature of the mid- to late twentieth century, this book examines how Christian theology in the genre is dismantled, re-imagined and transformed from the margins of gender and sexuality. Aligning fantasy with Derrida's theories of deconstruction, Taylor Driggers explores how the genre can re-figure God as the 'other' excluded and erased from theology. Through careful readings of C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve , and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea novels, Driggers contends that fantasy can challenge cis-normative, heterosexual, and patriarchal theology. Also engaging with the theories of Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, Marcella Althaus-Reid, and Linn Marie Tonstad, this book demonstrates that whilst fantasy cannot save Christianity from itself, nor rehabilitate it for marginalised subjects, it confronts theology with its silenced others in a way that bypasses institutional debates on inclusion and leadership, asking how theology might be imagined otherwise. Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Series Editors’ Preface 10 Acknowledgements 12 Introduction: Worlds of difference 14 Structure and methodology 18 Against apologetics 22 Deconstruction, theology and feminism 25 Fantasy: Definitions, critical approaches and figurations 30 Chapter 1: Saving face?: Fantasy, ethical alterity and deconstruction 36 Defining deconstruction, deconstructing definitions 38 Vive la différance 41 Theological deconstruction 43 Deconstructive theology 45 The call to advent-ure; or, Derrida among the dragons 47 Deconstructing Christianity in The Passion of New Eve 53 ‘Holy places are dark places’: Facing the other in Till We Have Faces 57 Breaking the circle: Religion without religion in The Left Hand of Darkness 68 Conclusions 78 Chapter 2: Dragons in the neighbourhood: The fantastic discourse of femininity 82 ‘A world all her own’: Hélène Cixous and écriture feminine 83 Is fantasy feminine? 90 The laugh of the dragon 93 Mère Christianity: Women’s language and holy wisdom in Till We Have Faces 97 ‘The fecund darkness’: ‘Bisexual’ religion and society in The Left Hand of Darkness 107 Conclusions 114 Chapter 3: Hetero-doxies: Fantasy and the problem of divine womanhood 116 Riddles in the dark: Luce Irigaray’s feminist mysticism 118 Becoming Psyche: Identity and Eros in Till We Have Faces 126 ‘Her own mythological artefact’: The Passion of New Eve and the theatre of divine womanhood 139 Conclusions 149 Chapter 4: Drag(on) theology: The queer strangers of fantasy 150 Queer(ing) definitions 152 Queering theology 157 Undressing orthodoxy: Althaus-Reid’s Indecent Theology 158 Theology of failure: Tonstad’s queer messianism 166 Drag(on) theology: Queer incarnations and fantastic embodiment 171 Double drag: Sacred parody in The Passion of New Eve 177 Queer failure in/as worldbuilding: Mystical perversions in The Left Hand of Darkness 182 Walking the Dragons’ Way: Sacred multiplicity in Earthsea 189 Conclusions 196 Monstrous messianisms: Conclusions 198 Divine speech and matter: Ann Leckie’s The Raven Tower 200 Swimming against the tides: Neon Yang’s Tensorate series 204 Gods and seduction: N. K. Jemisin’s Inheritance trilogy 208 Awaiting eucatastrophe 213 Notes 216 Bibliography 226 Index 236 "Fantasy literature inhabits the realms of the orthodox and heterodox, the divine and demonic simultaneously, making it uniquely positioned to imaginatively re-envision Christian theology from a position of difference. Having an affinity for the monstrous and the 'other', and a preoccupation with desires and forms of embodiment that subvert dominant understandings of reality, fantasy texts hold hitherto unexplored potential for articulating queer and feminist religious perspectives. Focusing primarily on fantastic literature of the mid- to late twentieth century, this book examines how Christian theology in the genre is dismantled, re-imagined and transformed from the margins of gender and sexuality. Aligning fantasy with Derrida's theories of deconstruction, Taylor Driggers explores how the genre can re-figure God as the 'other' excluded and erased from theology. Through careful readings of C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve, and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea novels, Driggers contends that fantasy can challenge cis-normative, heterosexual, and patriarchal theology. Also engaging with the theories of Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, Marcella Althaus-Reid, and Linn Marie Tonstad, this book demonstrates that whilst fantasy cannot save Christianity from itself, nor rehabilitate it for marginalised subjects, it confronts theology with its silenced others in a way that bypasses institutional debates on inclusion and leadership, asking how theology might be imagined otherwise"-- Provided by publisher "Fantasy literature inhabits the realms of the orthodox and heterodox, the divine and demonic simultaneously, making it uniquely positioned to imaginatively re-envision Christian theology from a position of difference. Having an affinity for the monstrous and the 'other', and a preoccupation with desires and forms of embodiment that subvert dominant understandings of reality, fantasy texts hold hitherto unexplored potential for articulating queer and feminist religious perspectives. Focusing primarily on fantastic literature of the mid- to late 20th century, this book examines how Christian theology in the genre is dismantled, re-imagined and transformed from the margins of gender and sexuality. Aligning fantasy with Derrida's theories of deconstruction, Taylor Driggers explores how the genre can re-figure God as the 'other' excluded and erased from theology. Through careful readings of C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve , and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea novels, Driggers contends that fantasy can challenge cis-normative, heterosexual, and patriarchal theology. Also engaging with the theories of Hľn̈e Cixous, Luce Irigaray, Marcella Althaus-Reid, and Linn Marie Tonstad, this book demonstrates that whilst fantasy cannot save Christianity from itself, nor rehabilitate it for marginalised subjects, it confronts theology with its silenced others in a way that bypasses institutional debates on inclusion and leadership, asking how theology might be imagined otherwise."-- Provided by publisher