Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
English
Committee Chair
Stephanie Foote
Committee Member
Christine Hoffmann
Committee Member
Kelly Watson
Abstract
Historical queer and transgender experiences have been obscured by the dominant narrative of history. However, these experiences surface in works of fiction. This thesis analyzes affective responses to constructions of queer masculinity in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Affects of disgust and desire in Treasure Island, and in the popular history of Treasure Island, reveal a proto-queer transgender experience found in 19th-century maritime fiction. These affects demonstrate a fear that there is no reproductive futurity in queer masculinity while producing narratives of queer masculinity. This production makes historical queer and transgender experiences legible, and allows contemporary queer readers to navigate and negotiate their own modes of anormative masculinity.
Recommended Citation
Riser, David V., "What’s Long about Long John Silver: Anormative Masculinities and Histories in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island" (2023). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 11841.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/11841
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons