Overview

Queer Allusion uncovers the crucial but underexamined role played by literary allusion in shaping queer poetry on both sides of the Atlantic, from the trial of Oscar Wilde in 1895 to the Stonewall Riots of 1969. In this wide-ranging, erudite study of influence and personal expression, Florian Gargaillo identifies three major functions of allusion for LGBTQ poets. First, allusion enabled writers to process their experiences through literary antecedents, and thus shape their identities in writing. Second, allusion provided a means to establish connections with other authors at a time when LGBTQ communities were often isolated and clandestine. Finally, establishing links across multiple works helped build a queer literary canon running parallel to the traditional contours of English-language verse. Gargaillo shows that allusion's particular appeal for queer poets lay in its blend of secrecy and openness. LGBTQ poets employed allusion to understand themselves, connect with others, and establish an alternative, underground poetic tradition. Queer Allusion thus provides an innovative framework for studying LGBTQ poetry, tracing lineages from figures like Wilde to A. E. Housman and Countee Cullen, who are rarely considered together due to differences in style, period, or movement. Through incisive close readings and contextual analysis, this book offers a new map of LGBTQ literary history and a new way to view the relationship between queer poets and the poetic past.

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9780807184738

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Reviews

""Queer Allusion makes an important contribution to poetry studies because it asks us to rethink literary influence. Contesting dominant views on the topic put forward by Bate and Bloom, Florian Gargaillo argues that literary influence need not be viewed as hierarchical, a burden, or a source of conflict between the new poet and the precursor. Instead, influence can be understood as an expression of the later poet's desire for community and connection across time.""--Daniel Morris, author of Not Born Digital: Poetics, Print Literacy, New Media ""Gargaillo's book will open eyes to the expressive and communicative potential, the consolatory or liberatory power of a large corpus of famous poets, echoing and learning from one another, from the Victorian era to the present.""--Marshall Brown, author of The Tooth That Nibbles at the Soul: Essays on Poetry and Music

""Queer Allusion makes an important contribution to poetry studies because it asks us to rethink literary influence. Contesting dominant views on the topic put forward by Bate and Bloom, Florian Gargaillo argues that literary influence need not be viewed as hierarchical, a burden, or a source of conflict between the new poet and the precursor. Instead, influence can be understood as an expression of the later poet's desire for community and connection across time."" - Daniel Morris, author of Not Born Digital: Poetics, Print Literacy, New Media ""Gargaillo's book will open eyes to the expressive and communicative potential, the consolatory or liberatory power of a large corpus of famous poets, echoing and learning from one another, from the Victorian era to the present."" - Marshall Brown, author of The Tooth That Nibbles at the Soul: Essays on Poetry and Music

Author Information

Florian Gargaillo, associate professor of English at Austin Peay State University, is the author of Echo and Critique: Poetry and the Clichés of Public Speech.

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