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16 - Writing the Body

from Part IV - Embodied Poetics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2024

By
Orchid Tierney
Edited by
Ann Vickery
Ann Vickery
Affiliation:
Deakin University, Victoria
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Summary

This chapter discusses how writing emerging out of Gay Liberation in the 1970s offered an alternative to the masculine heteronormativity that dominated the Australian literary tradition. Emphasised that the personal was political, it foregrounded private sensuality, an exploration of the everyday, and a critique of gay discrimination. The chapter traces the development of a diversifying community in the 1980s through writing collectives, anthologies, and journals. A broadening of the spectrum of LGBTQ+ poetry in the 1990s and 2000s was informed by queer understandings of sexuality. It saw lesbian writers test the limits of lyrical poetry and an era of mainstream popularity, as exemplified in Dorothy Porter’s The Monkey’s Mask. The chapter considers how LGBTQ+ poets of colour have critiqued ideas of national belonging and white subjecthood. It then discusses the exploration of embodiment, including the turn to autotheory by contemporary trans and genderqueer writers, resistance of ableist discourses, and the navigation of illness, such as AIDS, mental illness, and chronic pain.

Keywords

Gay Liberationgay and lesbianqueertransgenderqueerFirst Nations LGBTQ+ literaturecrip poetryembodiment
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry , pp. 274 - 291
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Writing the Body
  • Edited by Ann Vickery, Deakin University, Victoria
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry
  • Online publication: 06 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009470186.022
Available formats
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Writing the Body
  • Edited by Ann Vickery, Deakin University, Victoria
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry
  • Online publication: 06 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009470186.022
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Writing the Body
  • Edited by Ann Vickery, Deakin University, Victoria
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Australian Poetry
  • Online publication: 06 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009470186.022
Available formats
×