Same Old : Queer Theory, Literature and the Politics of Sameness

In its contributions to the study of material social differences, queer theoretical writing has mostly assumed that any ideas which embody 'difference' are valuable. More than this, where it is invoked in contemporary theory, queerness is often imagined as synonymous with difference itself. This book uncovers an alternative history in queer cultural representation. Through engagement with works from a range of queer literary genres from across the long twentieth century – fin-de-siècle aestheticism, feminist speculative fiction, lesbian middle-brow writing, and the tradition of the stud file – the book elucidates a number of formal and thematic attachments to ideas that have been denigrated in queer theory for their embodiment of sameness: uselessness, normativity, reproduction and reductionism. Exploring attachments to these ideas in queer culture is also the occasion for a broader theoretical intervention: Same Old suggests, counterintuitively, that the aversion they inspire may be of a piece with how homosexuality has been denigrated in the modern West as a misguided orientation towards sameness. Combining queer cultural and literary history, sensitive close readings and detailed genealogies of theoretical concepts, Same Old encourages a fundamental rethinking of some of the defining positions in queer thought. "Same old offers a rethinking of positions that have defined queer theory since its inception in the early 1990s. Steeped in philosophical and political commitments to 'difference', queer theoretical frameworks have tended to assume that ideas related to 'sameness' only thwart and stymie queer forms of life. But this book takes a number of these ideas as its focus - uselessness, reproduction, normativity and reductionism - and reveals their unexpected formal and thematic importance to a range of queer literary genres from across the long twentieth century: fin-de-siècle aestheticism, feminist speculative fiction, lesbian middlebrow writing, and the 'stud file' or record of serial sex. Demonstrating how queer cultural objects often stand at odds with the frameworks that have been meant to help interpret and comprehend them, Same old interrogates the genealogy of the aversion to sameness that has kept those frameworks in place." -- From publisher's website Same old offers a rethinking of positions that have defined queer theory since its inception in the early 1990s. Steeped in philosophical and political commitments to 'difference', queer theoretical frameworks have tended to assume that ideas related to 'sameness' only thwart and stymie queer forms of life. But this book takes a number of these ideas as its focus -- uselessness, reproduction, normativity and reductionism -- and reveals their unexpected formal and thematic importance to a range of queer literary genres from across the long twentieth century: fin-de-siecle aestheticism, feminist speculative fiction, lesbian middlebrow writing, and the 'stud file' or record of serial sex. Demonstrating how queer cultural objects often stand at odds with the frameworks that have been meant to help interpret and comprehend them, Same old interrogates the genealogy of the aversion to sameness that has kept those frameworks in place This title provides a new way of understanding queer culture. The frameworks offered by queer theory - steeped in philosophical, theoretical and political commitments to 'difference' - have obscured the important investments in 'sameness' that have been central to queer history. 'Same Old' dwells on these investments and elucidates their significance This book provides a new way of understanding queer culture. The frameworks offered by queer theory-steeped in philosophical, theoretical and political commitments to 'difference'-have obscured the important investments in 'sameness' that have been central to queer history. Same old dwells on these investments and elucidates their significance. -- . Front matter 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 7 Introduction: Same old 10 Useless 48 Reproductive 84 Normative 123 Reductive 160 Coda: Same again 196 References 207 Index 223 Ben Nichols. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Baltimore, Md Available Via World Wide Web.