Queer Poetry

Description

Queer poetry deals with issues of sexual and gender identity. These experiences are often linked to forms of desire and love that somehow clash with certain traditional norms and expectations. Thus, besides being an intimate and personal event, they can also have a strong social impact on issues of power, resistance and emancipation. In this sense, the queer poet can be seen as an outsider whose narrative – albeit with different dynamics and outcomes – can be assimilated to those of other minority communities. 
In this course, after a theoretical and methodological introduction, some exemplary voices from various historical periods and geographical areas will be presented: from Sappho to Catullus, from Abū Nuwās to Hafez, from Michelangelo to Shakespeare, from Lorca to Cavafy. We will then work on specific case studies – Frank O’hara, Morrissey and Patrizia Cavalli – to examine through close readings their poetics and reception.

Lecturers

Gandolfo Cascio is Assistant Professor of Italian Literature at Utrecht University. His research focuses on the aesthetics and philology of reception, on which he has authored the monographs Michelangelo in Parnaso. La ricezione delle “Rime” tra gli scrittori (Marsilio, 2019; English translation: Brill, 2022); Dolci detti. Dante, la letteratura e i poeti (Marsilio, 2021; Dutch translation: IIC, 2021); and he has published extensively in leading academic journals.

Target audience

This course is intended for graduates, PhD candidates and early-career researchers in literature, humanities, and cultural studies, as well as for anyone interested in poetry, gender and sexuality studies, and queer theory. It is particularly suitable for participants with a background in literary analysis who wish to deepen their knowledge of (queer) poetry across different historical periods and cultural contexts, and to develop close-reading, critical, and collaborative discussion skills.

Aim of the course

• Acquire historical and literary knowledge of the phenomenon investigated
• Acquire knowledge of the main voices of the “queer canon”
• Acquire methodological skills to study specific cases
• Exercise the ability to close reading
• Exercise the ability to discuss and work collaboratively
• Exercise skills of analysis, criticism and hermeneutics

Study load

The course consists of 3 hours of in-class sessions per day over 5 days; in addition, participants are expected to dedicate approximately 3 hours of independent study at home, mainly focused on reading and preparing the assigned texts.

Tags

• Poetry
• Queer Literature
• Close reading
• Stylistics
• New Courses