Queer Talk: the Politics of Transgression in the Novels of Alan Hollinghurst and Shyam Selvadurai

i Queer Talk: The Politics of Transgression in the Novels of Alan Hollinghurst and Shyam Selvadurai Thesis Submitted to the Nagaland University in Fulfilment of the Requirement of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH By NAROLA DANGTI Ph.D. Regd. No. 434/2011 Under the Supervision of Professor N.D.R. Chandra Department of English Nagaland University Kohima Campus: Meriema DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NAGALAND UNIVERSITY KOHIMA CAMPUS: MERIEMA – 797 001 2014 ii Dr. N. D. R. Chandra Vice-Chancellor M.A; M.Phil; P.G.D.T.E; Ph.D. Bastar University, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH Jagdalpur Chhattisgarh 494001 Mob No. (0)9436604508 Office No. (07782) 229239 Fax: (07782) 229226 Email:[email protected] Date: SUPERVISOR’S CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis entitled “Queer Talk: The Politics of Transgression in the Novels of Alan Hollinghurst and Shyam Selvadurai” is a bonafide record of research work done by Ms.NarolaDangti, Regd. No. 434/2011 dated 12th June 2009. This thesis, submitted to the Nagaland University in fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English, has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or any other title and that the thesis as such is an independent and original work on the part of the candidate under my guidance. Ms.NarolaDangti has completed the research work for the full period as prescribed under clause 9 (5) of the Ph.D. Regulations and the thesis embodies the record of original investigation conducted during the period she worked as a Ph.D. research scholar. (Professor N. D. R. Chandra) Supervisor Department of English Nagaland University Kohima Campus: Meriema iii CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I, do hereby declare that the thesis entitled “Queer Talk: The Politics of Transgression in the Novels of Alan Hollinghurst and Shyam Selvadurai” submitted for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English is a meticulous record of research investigation independently carried out by me under the guidance and supervision of Professor N.D.R. Chandra, Department of English, Nagaland University, during the period 2009-2014. This work has not been submitted either in full or in part to any other University or Institute for the award of any degree. Place: Kohima (NAROLA DANGTI) Date: Regd. No. 434/2011 Research Scholar Department of English Nagaland University Kohima Campus: Meriema Countersigned Dr. N. Das Professor N.D.R. Chandra Head Supervisor Department of English Department of English Nagaland University Nagaland University Kohima Campus, Nagaland Kohima Campus, Nagaland iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I depended on the gifts of patience, interrogation, ideas and narrative form from my supervisor Professor N.D.R. Chandra for writing this thesis. I am deeply indebted to the faculty, Department of English, Nagaland University, who have been a source of encouragement, not only in the sense of provocation and learning but in the root sense infusing me with courage to better suit and clarify my aims. My enduring appreciation goes to Dr. A.J. Sebastian, Dr. N. Das, Mrs. RosemaryDzuvichu, Dr. JanoSekhoseand Dr.LemtilaAlinger.I thank as well the seminar at Guwahati University for engaging conversations in February 2012 on Shyam Selvadurai and Sri-Lankan writers, when my thesis was beginning to take shape. This thesis has been assisted through the immenseinstitutional support from my college, Sazolie College. A number of my colleagues and friendshave helped me in shaping the text, engaging me and my thinking with the privilege of doing sustained intellectual work. I have been very lucky to haveAyemPongen from Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), who assisted me with the knowledge of books and journals from her University library, for the wealth of learning and for the atmosphere of support during my stay in the university.Other beneficial intellectual support for my writing came from the libraries of Delhi University, Delhi; Rajasthan University, Jaipur; NEHU, Shillong; ICSSR NERC, Shillong; DBCIC,Shillong;Gauhati University, Guwahati;Tezpur University,Tezpur;OKDISCD, Guwahati and NESRC,Guwahati. I express my gratitude to my husband, KedilezoKikhifor the personal participation, warmth, criticism, ideas and careful persuasion which helped me focus and research with a sense of purpose. My sonsThejavor and Vivor, for letting me engage with my research and its floating sense of detachment,transitivity and struggle. I learn from my parents and in-laws that courage and knowledge of learning is a privilege I owe them because of the indispensable generosity, sensibility, discipline and fine support they invested in me throughout my research. This thesis is written in memory of my brother AkokAmer, whom I have lost in the recent years. NarolaDangti v CONTENTS Supervisor’s Certificate ii Candidate’s Declaration iii Acknowledgements iv Contents v – vi Chapter I: Introduction 1 – 37 1.1 Queer Theory 1.2 Post-Colonial Criticism 1.3 Review of Literature 1.4 Alan Hollinghurst and His Works 1.5 Shyam Selvadurai and His Works 1.6 Objectives and Significance of the Study 1.7 Materials and Methodology 1.8 Schematization of Chapters Chapter II: Theorising Homosexuality 38 – 80 2.1 Queer Studies: Homosexuality 2.2 Queer Theorists 2.2.1 Michel Foucault 2.2.2 Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 2.2.3 Judith Butler 2.3 Gay Community: World Cultures 2.3.1 Civil Rights 2.3.2 Religious Institutions 2.3.3 Literature 2.4 Homosexuality Theorized Chapter III: Differently ‘Funny’: Passage to Homosexuality 82 - 114 in the Novels of Shyam Selvadurai 3.1 Tendencies: The Unnamed Third Place 3.2 Twilight Moments: Embarrassed Funniness 3.3 To ThineOwn Self be True: A Liberated Acceptance Chapter IV: Homosexual History and Contemporary Gay 116 - 153 Men’s Life in the Novels of Alan Hollinghurst 4.1 History of London Gays: The Politics of Identity 4.1.1 Class, Sexuality, Race, Social Politics, Gay Liberation Movement 4.2 Enticing Panorama of Metropolitan Gay Life: Clubbing, Gay Parties,Music, Dance 4.3 Sex, Drugs and Secrets: Shadows of AIDS and Death vi Chapter V: Repressive Forces to Transgressive Desires: 154 - 190 Alan Hollinghurst and Shyam Selvadurai 5.1 Why Transgressive Desires? Sexual Desires and Identity 5.2 Social and Cultural Restrictions 5.2.1 Family, Marriage and Tradition 5.2.2 Cultural Norms, Gender Orientations and Society 5.3 Political and State Institutional Forces 5.3.1 State and State Institutions – Politicians, Policy Makers, Law Makers, Police Authorities and Social Elites. 5.4 Homosexuality, Religious and Sexual Negotiations Chapter VI: Conclusion 191 - 203 Bibliography 204 - 213 1 Chapter I: Introduction Chapter I Introduction ___________________________________________________________________________ If one really thinks about the body as such, there is no possible outline of the body as such. There are thinkings of the systematicity of the body, there are value codings of the body. The body, as such, cannot be thought, and I certainly cannot approach it. - GayatriChakravortySpivak “In a Word: Interview with Ellen Rooney” 1.1 Introduction: Queer Theory Queer theory is the academic discourse that has largely replaced what used to be called gay/lesbian studies. The term was first coined by Teresa De Lauretis for a working conference on theorising gay and lesbian sexualities that was held at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in February 1990. The theory, as such encompasses a whole range of understanding issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity. Queer theory is largely based on the works of Michel Foucault, the French Philosopher. Besides Foucault, the works of Derrida, Lacan and Freud have contributed as important theoretical references. Beginning in the nineteenth century, sexuality gradually assumed a new status as an object of scientific and popular knowledge. The last two hundred years or so have seen what the critic and historian Michel Foucault once described as a ‘discursive explosion’ (Foucault 1998: 38) around the question of sex, by which he did not simply mean that it came to be talked about more widely or more often or more explicitly, relaxing the grip of repressive conventions or taboos but also calling for a genealogical analysis of sexuality as it has been lived and understood in Western culture over the last couple of centuries. The breadth of output in literary and cultural criticism which has investigated the specificities and constructions of 2 Chapter I: Introduction human sexualities is vast and it is a corpus which continues to grow and explore some aspect or representation of sex, sexuality or sexual desire. Sexuality is much more than a facet of human nature, the seat of pleasure and desire. It has become a principle of explanation, whose effects can be discerned, in different ways, in virtually any stage and predicament of human life, shaping our capacity to act and setting the limits to what we can think and do (Glover & Kaplan 2007: 12). Thus, the growing willingness to put sex into question, even to search for the truth about sexual behaviour, gradually opened up new ways in which the entire field of sexual possibilities and sexual identities could be imagined, permanently transforming people’s most intimate sense of their sexual selves. The present study thus aims in studying anomalies of sexual instincts with special emphasis on queering homosexuality in the works of the two novelists - Hollinghurst and Selvadurai. After 1945, and increasingly since the 1960s, the terms ‘bisexual’, ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’ and ‘straight’ have been used to index a connection between sexual desire and identity. Although the terms ‘heterosexual’ and ‘homosexual’ take their initial meaning from 19th century medical and legal documents, theory and criticism dealing with homosexuality continues to be written. Critical studies of ‘homosexual’ literary traditions exist alongside works dealing with bisexuality and the politics of representation of transgressive desires, lesbian aesthetics and gay male writing.

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