FINAL-Fax-Sexual Deregulation-FULL

Sexual Deregulation: Reading U.S. Subjects of Affective Labor from the Early Cold War to the Neoliberal Era Joanna Fax May 2016 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Acknowledgments 4 Introduction 8 Part One Chapter One: Homosexuality, Emotional Work, and Postwar Ethics in The Price of Salt and Giovanni’s Room 33 Chapter Two: The Deregulated Lesbian: Affective labor in Postwar Pulp and Romance Fiction 92 Part Two Chapter Three: Camping Deregulation and the Uses of History 141 Chapter Four: Countering Deregulation: Authorship as Collective Indebtedness in Audre Lorde and Barbara Kingsolver 171 References 211 2 Abstract In recent years, critics of neoliberalism have turned to new forms of affective labor as one of the features of late-capitalist shifts in production. What remains less scrutinized, however, is the extent to which these forms of labor, as they are structured by the industries that make use of them, play a role in the development of homosexual identity categories that have also been understood and represented as affective. My study interrogates how the cultural regulation of postwar bodies intersects with an economic program that valorizes market freedom. I view this phase of homosexual modernity as unfolding through the logic of deregulation, linking new homosexual subjects to larger systems of flexible, affective labor integral to the ongoing project of free-market hegemony. Affect theory frames this story as the embodied and emotive capacity for social bonding, an element of labor that must be managed by and extracted from working subjects. My readings of novels featuring gay and lesbian subjects at work disclose writers’ critical engagement with cultural and economic deregulation from its nascent stages in the United States. My analysis traces the narration and re-narration of this modernizing program from the mid-twentieth to early twenty-first-century writers who wrestle with neoliberalism’s ambivalent impact on sexual identity and politics. The project consists of two parts each engaging neoliberal adjustments inaugurated in the early Cold War epoch. My analysis of works by James Baldwin, Patricia Highsmith, Jane Rule, and the lesbian pulp author Paula Christian in the first two chapters explores the recurring centrality of service labor as a significant though under- examined feature of the representation of homosexuality in fiction in the 1950s and early 1960s. These works showcase authors confronting the fraught relationship between homosexuality and deregulation ideology, which diminishes the dominance of particular heteronormative arrangements at the same time as it collaborates with new exploitative regimes under late capitalism. The two chapters of the dissertation’s second part examine the significance of historical fiction that revisits the McCarthy period. I read Audre Lorde’s 1982 biomythography Zami and Barbara Kingsolver’s 2009 novel The Lacuna as pivotal commentaries that re-examine this history through the lens of emotional labor to explore the racial, national, and class-based dimensions of queer identity in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. 3 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Rice University’s Department of English for its years of financial and academic support. In addition, funding by the department’s sixth-year teaching fellowship and the Caroline S. and David L. Minter Summer Research Grant helped to make this project possible. I would also like to thank The Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice, which provided me with crucial funding for research and travel through its certificate program and sixth year teaching fellowship. The seeds for this project were planted in Rosemary Hennessy’s seminar on Marxist theory, which I took on a whim my first semester at Rice. Her brilliant instruction provided the first of several jolts to the brain that had me stray from my initial field of study and into waters relatively unknown to me at the time. Rosemary introduced me to many of the field’s fundamental concepts and, in ways that I have come to appreciate, left me to figure out the angles on my own. Since then, her role as teacher and mentor has been nothing short of heroic. I am grateful for the time that she has given to me in every form, from her incisive commentary on each one of my many, many drafts to her steadfast “cheerleading” when I absolutely needed it the most. Rosemary’s attention, intellect, and comradely guidance continue to model for me the best parts of what we do – she is the kind of teacher I hope to be. Additionally, Susan Lurie’s teaching in feminist criticism and contemporary culture cemented my resolve early on to pursue a new direction in my scholarship. This project has benefitted tremendously from her years of shrewd and thorough feedback, which never failed to present to me perspectives I had not yet considered. Along with 4 that, Susan’s warmth and humor have been vital resources for this work – and to my time overall as a student at Rice. I would also like to acknowledge the many other teachers who have been important resources for me over the years. Receiving the assignment to be Dennis Huston’s teaching assistant in my second year was a fantastic twist of fate. I am so glad I got to spend a semester in his classroom. I also want to thank José Aranda, who agreed to sponsor the Rice Progressives several years ago, and has been an invaluable ally ever since. Many were the times that I was compelled to stop by his office for some crucial bit of advice, which he invariably offered with geniality and candor. Brian Riedel has also been a constant source of encouragement and camaraderie. Collaborating with him on our Introduction to LGBT Studies class was truly a capstone to my teaching experience at Rice. I am additionally grateful to Cymene Howe for her supportive reading of my dissertation and for her generosity in agreeing to join my committee. It was under Susannah Mintz’s supervision at Skidmore College that I developed an obsession with seventeenth-century British poetry that continues to this day. This project does not cover the seventeenth century, British literature, or poetic form; nonetheless, it exists because of Susannah’s early mentorship, which has forever changed my way of reading. Kim Macellaro was the first English grad I met at Rice as a prospective student in 2008. We got into a heated debate – probably about food – and have been lovingly duking it out ever since. I cannot imagine the last eight years without her friendship. The same goes for Maggie Harvey, whose sharp wit and aptitude for commiseration have been indispensible. Heba Khan has also been a steadfast friend and constant source of 5 wisdom and laughter through years that have held major changes for both of us. I also want to mention the many others at Rice whose friendship and collaboration over the years have enriched my own thinking and work. These folks include Alex Adkins, Josh Atkinson, Larry Butz, Nessette Falu, Abby Goode, Niffy Hargrave, Jon Nelson, Joanna O’Leary, Laura Richardson, Karen Rosenthall, AnaMaria Seglie, Jim Toweill, Derek Woods, and Meina Yeats-Richard. In no uncertain terms, Andy Klein’s unbounded care and attention have contributed greatly to this project’s completion. Such forms of labor often remain invisible, so I feel compelled to itemize a few of them here. They include brain-healthy breakfasts, last-minute car rides, silly conversations, musical collaboration, editorial support, clean spaces, fresh flowers, and the wisdom of always knowing when it is time for another bike adventure. In addition, I can’t imagine getting to this point without Natalie Blum-Ross’s inexhaustible coaching from afar. In so many ways, she has been the co-pilot throughout this process, often checking in on a daily basis – even as she was in the midst of completing her own dissertation – to see how things were going. Getting to interact with Natalie in this way has been one of my favorite unforeseeable by-products of this work. I feel lucky everyday for her friendship. Finally, I would like to thank each of my parents, Chuck, Nancy, Chris, and Michele. My dad cultivated my love of literature early on, captivating me with bedtime stories that he would read in an amazing range of funny voices. Since then, he has encouraged my academic pursuits in every way, most vividly by sharing with me his own intellectual interests and by engaging so earnestly with me about mine. My mom’s 6 limitless empathy has been a crucial accompaniment to the ups and downs of the writing process – as she has told me many times, she feels the good and bad right along with me. Thanks to her, and to our many conversations over the years, I have gotten to bask a bit longer in the good and feel a little less lonely in the bad. Lastly, thanks to Chris and Michele, the two amazing teachers who came into each of my parent’s lives and have exemplified for me the best parts of modern family-dom. 7 Introduction Early in Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt (1952), protagonist Therese Belivet is daydreaming before the start of her shift at a New York City department store: She would wonder, standing in the time-clock queue in the basement every morning, her eyes sorting out unconsciously the regular employees from the temporary ones, just how she had happened to land here—she had answered an ad, of course, but that didn’t explain fate—and what was coming next instead of a stage-designing job. Her life was a series of zigzags. At nineteen, she was anxious. (13) This passage is one of several that foreshadow Therese’s subsequent encounter and romantic affair with Carol, a wealthy New Jersey woman who occupies Therese’s attention for the remainder of the book.

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