Queering the Incomprehensible: antinarrative, temporality, and the trans novel

Conventional narrative within literature has long been understood to be heteronormative (Yong, 2021), imposing a 'coherence and linearity on subjectivity and meaning' which is often antithetical to queer experience, and thus insufficient for conveying queer life (Bradway, 2021). Alternative modes of narrative have been explored, particularly by postmodern, 1960s writers (Barth, 1988; Johnson, 2009; Gaddis, 2020), who would often employ antinarrative within their work: a writing tradition that avoids traditional conventions, coherence, and plot resolution. However, with few exceptions, these were white, straight, cisgender authors, with novels that, despite narrative invention, fell in line with the cultural hegemony of heteronormative ideology.

My project will sit at the cross-section of postmodern and queer literature, analysing how postmodern antinarrative can be co opted to tell queer stories, where the point is not to disrupt narrative as an end in itself, or to antagonise the reader, but as a necessary tool for exploring narratives that fall outside the logic of heteronormative reality: arguing that when we clamour for readability and conventionality, we are curtailing individuality, overlooking the lived experiences of those on the margins for the overriding neoliberal structures that dominate our society. Recent queer novels, e.g. Waidner's Gaudy bauble (2017) and Gavin's Never Was (2023), can be seen as attempts in this direction; however, they still ultimately fall into mainstream, normative narratives, packaging their stories in such a manner that fails to embrace the full possibilities of antinarrative. As such, investigating the potential of postmodernist techniques through my own original novel will be a necessity rather than supplementary.

The use of antinarrative techniques for queer expression is an as yet underexplored area. To ground the work, the thesis will follow Berlant's Cruel Optimism (2011), using their analysis of how conventional...