Book recommendations for English lit course, esp. with LGBTQ themes

December 27, 2018 5:29 PM

My English department has class sets of novels we lend to students for the semester, to help them save money on required texts. I've been slowly building our collection to have lots of books by women and people of colour, but LGBTQ themes are a glaring omission and I'd like to fix that. The students are 18+; there are no content restrictions, but something that would provoke a lot of discussion would be perfect. Canadian content is a bonus but not a requirement; 350 pages or less is ideal.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl to Education (27 answers total)

So, uh, my question is, "Could you please recommend books that fit these parameters? Thanks!"
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 5:31 PM on December 27, 2018

Orlando by Virginia Woolf
posted by belladonna at 5:44 PM on December 27, 2018

Not exactly transgender, but not NOT transgender, either, Self by Yann Martel.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:00 PM on December 27, 2018

Are there other qualities you're looking for? Does it matter what time period they're from? Do you have any specific literary genres you want to focus on?

Off the top of my head, some interesting/good queer (and mostly pretty contemporary) Canadian authors include Nicole Brossard, Daphne Marlatt, Vivek Shraya, Rae Spoon, Gail Scott, Casey Plett, and Jane Rule. Anne Carson isn't (afaik) queer, but Autobiography of Red definitely is. If canonical is more important than Canadian, I can make you a different list.
posted by dizziest at 6:14 PM on December 27, 2018

Some Canadian queer writers
Shyam Selvadurai's (especially Funny Boy which is perhaps my most recommended book of all time, could not put it down).
Dionne Brand
Jane Rule (Desert of the Heart)
Ivan Coyote
Nicole Brossard
posted by chapps at 6:21 PM on December 27, 2018

Lisa Alther's Kinflicks.
posted by nightrecordings at 6:39 PM on December 27, 2018

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth
posted by wearyaswater at 6:44 PM on December 27, 2018

James Baldwin
Fun Home - graphic novel
Anais Nin, maybe?
Amistead Maupin
Night Kites, M.E. Kerr
Audre Lorde
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
The Price of Salt, Patricia Highsmith
Rubyfruit Jungle, Rita Mae Brown
Oscar Wilde
Jeanette Winterson
posted by bunderful at 7:45 PM on December 27, 2018

I just finished reading Tiger Flu by Chinese Canadian (and lesbian) author Lariassa Lai. Sort of complicated post-apocalyptic sci fi. There's a community of women. And then there's everything else and it's a mess. I found it thought provoking. No overt GLBTQ relationships (that I can recall) but many implied and parthenogenesis is pretty interesting. I haven't read her earlier stuff but she is great.
posted by jessamyn at 7:47 PM on December 27, 2018

[Have now read reviews and one of the major early relationships in the book is a queer one which I missed entirely. Hits all the parameters then!]
posted by jessamyn at 8:02 PM on December 27, 2018

Dorothy Allison
posted by liminal_shadows at 8:12 PM on December 27, 2018

Angels in america (the script / text of the play) is available in print.
posted by WeekendJen at 8:26 PM on December 27, 2018

Anything by Hiromi Goto.
Skim by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki.
Poetry by Billy Ray Belcourt or Gregory Scofield.
posted by bibliotropic at 8:59 PM on December 27, 2018

In answer to the question about other parameters/time period/genre: I'm pretty open, but mostly likely to go with something recent since it's easier to buy a class set of something in print. No specific genre in mind, and canonical isn't particularly important. (My biggest deciding factor, honestly, will be length and whether I think it will grab their interest right away. I have quite a few students every semester who tell me the novel they read in my class is the first novel they've actually read the whole way through--I don't tend to get a lot of English majors.)

Thank you all so much for your suggestions so far! I have a lot to check out thanks to this thread. I imagine I'll find a couple of things to go with, and probably more that I'd buy if we had a bigger budget. And there are a whole lot in here that won't become a class set but I'll read because I'm interested in it.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:44 PM on December 27, 2018

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
posted by saladin at 4:39 AM on December 28, 2018

Seconding The Color Purple. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray is a veritable smorgasbord of feminist themes, gender and sexuality included.
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang is a graphic novel -- a little more expensive, but also more accessible to those intimidated by plain ol' books :)
posted by snerson at 5:22 AM on December 28, 2018

Alexander Chee's Edinburgh
posted by brujita at 6:09 AM on December 28, 2018

I remember really liking Anne Fleming's short story collection Pool Hopping. Not all stories have queer characters, but a lot do, including queer characters of different backgrounds/generations. Anne Fleming is Canadian, and it was I think published around 2000. I read it a while ago so I'm a bit hazy on the details, but I remember most of the stories having a just below the surface melancholy. Note that off the top of my head one of the stories describes an assault.
posted by the cat's pyjamas at 6:17 AM on December 28, 2018

Billy-Ray Belcourt's This Wound is a World (poetry, published by Frontenac Press last year)

Casey Plett's Little Fish (novel)

Gwen Benaway's Holy Wild (poetry)

I would say more, but i'm about to get on a plane.
posted by platitudipus at 6:19 AM on December 28, 2018

Nella Larsen's, Passing comes to mind. If you don't mind dipping into science fiction, Babel-17 has been getting a fair bit of critical attention on my feeds the last few years. Bechdel's Fun Home might be interesting if you want to cross over into sequential art as a form.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 8:14 AM on December 28, 2018

If they generally have access to computers/tablets/phones, you might also consider Torrey Peters's novella Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones. It's short, available online as a pay-what-you-will download, and teaches well--I've used it in a first-year writing seminar, and found that students have a lot to say about it.
posted by dizziest at 9:55 AM on December 28, 2018

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi is by and about a queer trans poc from Nigeria. The story goes through them growing up, attending an American university, and living a post-uni life in Brooklyn while figuring out that they are actually a collection of spirits. I recommend it for you in particular because while it is an unusual and worthy novel in many ways, I think its appeal would be strongest for people in university themselves -- there's a lot to engage with and a lot to discuss.
posted by Pwoink at 10:59 AM on December 28, 2018

"The Razor's Edge" by W. Somerset Maugham is a good book, on the AP reading list, and while it doesn't explicitly feature LGBT themes, there are a couple of gay characters.
posted by kevinbelt at 11:53 AM on December 28, 2018

If web-based content is an option:

Teahouse
The less-than epic adventures of TJ and Amal
O Human Star
posted by bunderful at 1:37 PM on December 29, 2018

One more thought - Ursula Le Guin wrote a lot of sci-fi/fantasy that explored various elements of human life and behavior - including gender and sexuality - by putting characters in a different context (another time/planet/culture).

The Birthday of the World and Other Stories has some pieces that always make me want to write an essay and have a deep discussion.
posted by bunderful at 2:33 PM on December 29, 2018

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Wolff is incredibly short, and can provide different literary approaches for your class. It is a story within a 24-hour period, with converging narratives. There is also a queer reading you could do in terms of the main character’s love and friendship with her best friend.

Seconding Ursula Le Guin; can’t think of specific stories at the moment - my collection is at work. Also seconding Orlando, and recommendations for delving into poetry collections.
posted by chronic sublime at 2:57 AM on January 12, 2019

Just popping back in to say I sought out Casey Plett's Little Fish on recommendations from this thread and it is indeed very good.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:34 AM on February 26, 2019