Queer Lit By cover art

Queer Lit

By: Lena Mattheis
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  • Summary

  • Queer Lit is a podcast about LGBTQIA+* literature and culture. In each episode, literary studies researcher Lena Mattheis talks to an expert in the field of queer studies. Topics include lesbian literature, inclusive pronouns and language, gay history, trans and non-binary novels, intersectionality and favourite queer films, series or poems.

    New episode every other week!

    queerlitpodcast@gmail.com
    https://lenamattheis.wordpress.com/queerlit
    Twitter and Instagram: @queerlitpodcast

    Music by geovanebruny from Pixabay
    Lena Mattheis
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Episodes
  • 100 Episodes!

    100 Episodes!
    May 21 2024
    Can you believe this is our 100th episode? Listen now to hear about some listeners’ favourite episodes, about future plans for the podcast and about how the cats are feeling these days.

    References:
    https://ko-fi.com/queerlit
    Karen Tongson
    Normporn
    Susan Stryker
    Cate Sandilands
    Kew Gardens
    Elizabeth Freeman
    Diane Watt
    Briona Simone Jones
    Yesterqueer’s Holigays
    Out and Wild
    https://www.outandwild.co.uk/
    Alison Bechdel
    Alex Iantaffi
    Kai Cheng Thom
    Sara Ahmed
    Alexis Pauline Gumbs
    Mo Moulton
    Alberto Poza

    Questions I still have:
    1. What can I do to make my listeners even happier?
    2. Who are all these awesome people that spend their time with me and my guests?
    3. Will I really make another 100 episodes?
    4. When will Rufus take over as podcast host?
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    25 mins
  • “Normporn and Queer Imaginaries” with Karen Tongson

    “Normporn and Queer Imaginaries” with Karen Tongson
    May 14 2024
    What could be more soothing than escaping your beautiful but complex queer life by watching a bunch of straight people remodel their suburban home in a new shade of beige? Karen Tongson joins me to explain why mainstream television can be so comforting and why admitting to having watched Gilmore Girls for the fourth time can feel a bit like sharing your browser history… In this curious entanglement of norms, shame, and self-soothing, Karen also shares insights into the shifting views of what is normal and what this means for queer life – televisually as well as geographically and sociopolitically.

    Listen now to hear Karen speak about “surrendering to the spontaneous overflow of basic feelings” and don’t forget to follow Karen on Instagram @tongsonator to keep up to date with her work.

    References:
    Karen Tongson’s Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us (2023)
    Karen Tongson’s Relocations: Queer Suburban Imaginaries (2011)
    Karen Tongson’s Why Karen Carpenter Matters (2021)
    Karen Tongson’s Empty Orchestra (forthcoming)
    The Ultimatum
    Thirtysomething
    Parenthood
    True Blood
    Gilmore Girls
    José Esteban Muñoz
    Catherine Zimmer
    Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette
    The Phantom of the Opera
    Michael Crawford
    Sailor Moon
    Tuxedo Mask
    Gestalt
    The Traitors
    Alan Cumming
    @tongsonator
    Karentongson.org

    Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:
    1. Can you define ‘normporn’ and give an example of what might be a typical normporn show?
    2. What is the ‘porn’ in ‘normporn’? How does shame play into watching mainstream TV as queer escapism?
    3. What role does grief play in relation to normporn?
    4. Karen talks about discussions of normalcy as a throughline for all three of her currently published books. Which type of ‘normal’ does each monograph discuss?
    5. Which show do you find particularly soothing and why?
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    54 mins
  • “Trans in Translation” with Alberto Poza

    “Trans in Translation” with Alberto Poza
    Apr 30 2024
    Have you read the iconic Taiwanese novel The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei? If so, in which language? Alberto has crafted the fabulous Spanish translation of this beautifully genderweird text and joins me to speak about the opportunities and challenges the highly gendered structures of Spanish offer for this. If you have ever wondered which pronoun or gendered inflection to use for a cyborg and what language might best describe a trans machine, this is the episode for you.

    Learn more about Alberto’s work on Instagram @aiweip or on Twitter (@Albertop_p) and consider giving @queerlitpodcast a follow as well.

    References:
    Queer and Trans Philologies
    Diane Watt
    Chi Ta-Wei’s The Membranes
    Ari Larissa Heinrichs
    Queer Ecologies and Environmental Writing (module)
    https://lenamattheis.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/module-handbook-queer-ecologies.pdf
    Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun
    Jack Halberstam
    Paul Preciado
    Alana Portero’s Bad Habit (La Mala Costumbre, 2023)

    Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:
    1. Have you ever read a queer text in different languages? Do you experience gender differently depending on language?
    2. Why do we gender some machines and not others?
    3. Alberto comments on how Anglophone readers tend to focus on the trans elements of The Membranes. Why do you think they stand out to Anglophone readers?
    4. Alberto comments of generic masculine, generic feminine and genderneutral forms in Spanish. How do you think translations into other languages have dealt with this dilemma and how would you translate this?
    5. If you could speak any language fluently, which one would you choose and why?
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    18 mins
Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences
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