Spring Fever PANIC! and Sexuality as Living Literature
Spring Fever PANIC! Reading: Sexuality and Resistance as Living Literature
Our philosophical and historical discussion of sexuality in American culture has been informed by renowned and canonized fiction, as well as scientific contexts and personal documents. This PANIC! reading project is a blend of theories, realities, fictions, and confessions in a theatrical, real-time, literary and community context.
The heteronormative population does not generally unite as a community exclusively around sexuality, instead confining it to academic discourse, commodified consumer culture, visits with the shrink, and other modes of highly stigmatized confessions. There are, however, communities of local living artists, and communities of local living homos (I say this lovingly so I can say it without really having to justify myself parenthetically). The queer art community in New York is an incredible place to find oneself and be found, because the language and the sexuality are both alive. They can be perceived as unmasked, self-promoting, or confessional in the most public way, but either way, brilliant minds show up and give one another a palpable sexuality to contemplate.
Erotic storytelling in this context is political and social and deliciously smutty. The resistance to the institution of literary canon and hetero canon is conducted not as protest, but as an assertion of the community of art and sexuality. The final reader, Stan, re-tells the story of Alexander the Great, his passions and his commitments, how they are one and the same whether in battle or in love with Hephastian, his partner of twenty years. His dispute is with the historical authority that normalizes great figures, eliminating a centuries-long tradition of sexuality. Erotica writer Rosalind at once reinforces and protests the normative convention of monogamy even in gay relationships. In her story, her resistance to convention and “commitment” bears grave consequences, but the price seems worth the ride. She tells the story in a confessional mode that relates her to her audience, building a personal and literary alliance that supercedes whatever generalized notions of normativity float in the air. My long poem is a divulging portrait of a scene between two lovers. The great detail of fabrics, motions, and anatomies draws attention to the one unconfirmed factor – the genders of the characters. Many readers and critics have asked me to please insert third-person pronouns so they can verify their theories. The resistance to gendrification is the aggressive point of what appears to be an expendable scene in the great scheme.
The exposure of sex to literature and conversation creates a community of resistance as mutual support, acceptance, and a medium that is not subject to normative influences. Also, it is tons of fun to mull over your work until it is as beautiful and expressive and fluid as it can be for public consideration. The interaction of art and life pulls the written word out of its typical solipsism, pushes it out for the world to hate, and makes it a viable candidate for breaking through the normative walls of sexuality and the canon.
Attached is the full text of my reading, a long poem entitled “Play,” followed by a more recent long poem that was partially inspired by our class (entitled “Lines”).
portfolio_excerpt_-_long_poems[1]
Best,
Lena
Tags: discourse, homosexuality, language, resistance
