The Dramedy in Queer of Color
The Dramedy in Queer of Color
Noah’s Arc and the Seriously “Trashy” Pleasure of Critique
This essay explores how the distinct sexual economy of queer sex publics shapes black queer subjectivity. Focusing on how the illicit economies of the street and the illicit sexual labor of black same-sex desiring men overlap in queer sex publics, sometimes posing a threat to black men engaging in such “risky” sexual activity, this chapter argues that black queer subjectivity emerges precisely within these spatiotemporal entanglements of death and desire. Through close readings of two short stories by Jamaican-American gay author G. Winston James, the first scholarly treatment of his work to date, the author explores literary representations of black gay protagonists who encounter death while cruising for sex. The author ultimately calls for a queer reading practice that holds representations of death, oftentimes central to black queer narratives, in critical tension with representations of black queer desire.
Keywords: death, public sex, queerness, time, space, G. Winston James
Illinois Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
