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The Construction of Queer Domestic Space in Contemporary American Literature

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The Construction of Queer Domestic Space in Contemporary American Literature UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Homing Desires/Desiring Homes: The Construction of Queer Domestic Space in Contemporary American Literature A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in English by David Michael Chase 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Homing Desires/Desiring Homes: The Construction of Queer Domestic Space in Contemporary American Literature by David Michael Chase Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Arthur L. Little, Chair The manifestation of a public “gay identity” at Stonewall has made possible the emergence of an openly gay literary tradition that continues to the present day. When viewed collectively, contemporary gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered writers exhibit extraordinary range in their choices of subject matter, form, and theme, yet critics have tended to categorize gay domestic narratives, particularly those written by “white,” “middle-class” men, as participating in a cultural project that promotes normativity through its representation of gay subjects as “assimilative” and “sexless.” In other words, these critics regard authors who concern ii themselves with the homespace and with familial relationality as participating in a cultural project that makes “gay identity” palatable for straight readers, thereby rendering a more transgressive “queer” subjecthood virtually invisible. By examining the literary blueprints for queer homespaces that have been drawn up by several contemporary American male writers, this dissertation project aims to counter the assumption that a privileging of “gay” homelife necessarily results in an assimilative loss of queer-ness and sociopolitical potential. In reading Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man (1964), Robert Ferro’s The Family of Max Desir (1983), Samuel R. Delany’s The Mad Man (1994), and Michael Cunningham’s A Home at the End of the World (1990) through the lenses of architectural studies, queer and feminist theories, poststructuralism, and affect theory, I seek to recover the queer homespace as an unsettled and disruptive site in which heteronormativity is challenged and the obscured connections among domestic practice, social oppression, and queer resistance are revealed. In so doing, I seek to expand notions of both queer literary identities and the material sites from which queer resistance has been and might be waged. iii The dissertation of David Michael Chase is approved. James A. Schultz Lowell Gallagher Uri McMillan Arthur L. Little, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2014 iv For Adikus v Table of Contents Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………....vii Vita…………………………………………………………………………………………….....xi Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….1 Chapter 1 Conscientious Abjection: Christopher and His (Queer) Kind of Domestic Warfare in Isherwood’s A Single Man…………………………………………………………….....43 Chapter 2 The “space in which to continue living”: Imagining the Queer Domestic in Robert Ferro’s The Family of Max Desir………………………………………………………………...86 Chapter 3 The Animality of Being Human: Valuing “Filthy” Housekeeping in Samuel R. Delany’s The Mad Man…………………………………………………………………………...143 Chapter 4 A “settled life and a shocking one”: Revolutionizing Queer Domesticity in Michael Cunningham’s A Home at the End of the World………………………………………..195 Coda: Queer Sorts of Homecomings…………………………………………………………...252 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………….271 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Above all else, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Arthur L. Little, who has served as my guide, my mentor, my strongest supporter, my most thoughtful reader, and my friend since the beginning of this project. Without Arthur’s belief in the importance of my subject and in the strengths of my insights, and without his incredibly gracious willingness to assist me as I returned to this work after an extended absence, this dissertation truly would not have been possible. Moreover, based upon his impressive abilities to bring together a harmonious group of individuals to serve as the additional readers for my dissertation, Arthur has ensured that the final months of my work on this project have been more enjoyable, more rewarding, and—most importantly—far less stressful than I could have ever expected them to be. I feel truly privileged to have been able to work with Arthur over these many years, and I look forward to future opportunities for conversation and collaboration. I also am grateful to James A. Schultz, with whom I had worked in the past, and to Lowell Gallagher and Uri McMillan, to whom I was a largely unknown quantity, for being so enthusiastically willing to join the committee and to apply their knowledge and expertise in order to assist with the last part of this long journey. I am particularly thankful for Jim’s, Lowell’s, and Uri’s thoughtful insights into my work during my dissertation defense and for their kindness and flexibility in freeing up their schedules to make this meeting possible. Additionally, I thank Christopher Looby, Eric Avila, and Jennifer Fleissner, all of whom played important roles as committee members during the formulation stage of this project. Joseph Bristow was never an official part of this project, yet his influence can be felt on its every vii page. I am grateful to Joe in particular for being my teacher and my trusted advisor during the completion of my graduate coursework; more generally, I appreciate his insistence on intellectual rigor, and I hope that this project meets his high standards for academic scholarship. Several of my former teachers—most notably, James Langlas, Lester Schomas, Jeff MacDonald, Roger Lundin, Richard Butman, Jay Wood, Kent Gramm, Terence Whalen, Chris Messenger, Jamie Owen Daniel, Eric Sundquist, Felicity Nussbaum, Helen Deutsch, Blake Allmendinger, Ali Behdad, and Michael North—have played essential parts in my development as a person, as a scholar, as a researcher, and/or as a writer, and I remain in their debt for the kindness, the knowledge, and the advice that they have shared with me. Mike Lambert, Graduate Advisor for the UCLA English department, has been a great source of information and has been enormously helpful as I have worked to understand and to fulfill the logistical requirements related to the completion of my dissertation and doctorate. I very much appreciate his genuine willingness to assist me and his ongoing cheerfulness in doing so. Valerie Ross, Director of the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania, not only encouraged me to work toward the completion of this project but was instrumental in my securing of a full-time, tenure-track teaching position. I believe that she once told me that, in her experience, most individuals will not finish a dissertation if it extends beyond a range of ten years since its inception. Valerie absolutely was correct about the formidable impediments to finishing work that has stagnated for more than a decade. As such, I am both surprised and immensely appreciative to discover myself as an exception to her observation. viii Several of my colleagues in the English department at Raritan Valley Community College have been especially encouraging as I have worked toward the eventual conclusion of this process. Andy Manno, Karen Gaffney, Angela Bodino, Anita Rosenblithe, and Barbara Bretcko have each provided inspiration, reassurance, helpful suggestions, kind words, and/or practical support as I have attempted to see this project through to the end. My office mate and dear friend Christine Pipitone-Herron has served throughout the years as my colleague, my department chair, my champion, my unofficial therapist, and my confidante, and words cannot express my gratitude for the experiences, conversations, and adventures that we have shared during our many years of working together and of friendship. The English department at UCLA provided generous support for my work in the form of a Dissertation Research Fellowship at the start of the process. I additionally am thankful for the support of my colleagues at Raritan Valley Community College in granting me the year-long sabbatical leave that has provided the time and economic means necessary for the completion of this project. Thanks to my friends in New Orleans for filling my life with so much fun, novelty, joy, and distraction during this final year of research and writing. I am omitting many individual names here to protect the not-so-innocent, but they know who they are. To be sure, if we had played less frequently and drank less excessively, I may have finished this project sooner, but it would have been a much less enjoyable experience. Mike and Judi Chase have always believed that I could see this dissertation to completion, and I am grateful for their support throughout the years. Likewise, Fay Botham, the companion in my earliest attempts at queer homemaking, and her partner Tahlia Fischer have ix been sources of ongoing encouragement. Susan Vigen has talked me through many moments of frustration and has made my life more enjoyable in too many ways to mention. Although we may not talk or get together as often as I would like, I am privileged to count these people as family. Finally and most importantly, I am wholeheartedly thankful to Adikus Sulpizi, the love of my life, for his encouragement, understanding, and patience, both during this final year of work and throughout our fourteen years together as partners. Each and every day, Adikus makes sure that the queer
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