Innocence, Heterosexuality, and the Queerness of Children's Literature

Pugh, Tison

doi:10.4324/9780203831410

Cited by 25 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…It is also interesting to note that various theorists have interpreted the many representations of the monstrous female as a reflection of envy of women's reproductive power (see Ussher, 2006). 10 For a detailed reading of the "invisible sexuality" in children's literature, see Pugh, 2011. olent figure without any of the robustness usually perceived as a masculine trait. His lack of a nose and fondness for snakes certainly raise a Freudian eyebrow, as does his tendency to twirl his (and on one occasion, Harry's) wand 11 between his "long, pale fingers", and much is made of his "high, cold voice" (compare this to Darth Vader's imposing masculinity and his famous basso profundo).…”

Section: He Who Must Not Be Named: Tom Riddle's Monstrous Villainymentioning

confidence: 99%

High-voiced Dark Lords and Boggarts in drag: Feminine-coded villainy in the Harry Potter series

Vujin¹,

Krombholc²

2019

Zb Filoz fak Priština

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Representations of villains in fiction tend to make them conspicuous and easily recognisable, and this is even more frequent in children's literature, which speaks to an inexperienced reading audience and is more likely to follow established narrative patterns or rely on less-than-subtle means of characterisation. An important element in the portrayal of villains, in children's and adult literature alike, is their physical appearance, as is the extent to which they (do not) conform to socially accepted ideas about gender and sexuality. The tendency to represent male villains as somehow aberrant in this sense stems from a long history of viewing the female as a monstrosity in itself, and ascribing feminine features to a man as one of the shortest routes to transforming him into an evil character. Using this theoretical framework as its starting point, this paper will take a closer look at the portrayal of Lord Voldemort, the principal villain of the Harry Potter series, and Severus Snape, whose villainy is revealed to be a ruse only at the very end. The analysis will focus on the ways in which the feminine-coding of these two characters amplifies, but also at times complicates, their status as the villains of the story.

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Section: He Who Must Not Be Named: Tom Riddle's Monstrous Villainymentioning

confidence: 99%

High-voiced Dark Lords and Boggarts in drag: Feminine-coded villainy in the Harry Potter series

Vujin¹,

Krombholc²

2019

Zb Filoz fak Priština

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“…Readers, young and old, are insisting on the primacy of their own interpretations, which often rely on the coalitional politics espoused by Harry and his allies in the septet. Yet others align themselves with exclusionary politics, citing authority figures like Warner Brothers, Rowling, and the admittedly contradictorily heteronormative and white-centered books themselves (Duggan, 2019;Galway, 2012;Horne, 2010;Pugh andWallace, 2006, 2008;Rana, 2011;Thomas, 2019). These exclusions are particularly apparent when fans exclude either fans or fan-created representations of characters who are members of traditionally marginalized groups (Fowler, 2019;Walton, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformative Readings: Harry Potter Fan Fiction, Trans/Queer Reader Response, and J. K. Rowling

Duggan

2021

Child Lit Educ

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The politics of children’s literature and the actors surrounding it have never been more visible than they are now, in the digital age. As one of the first children’s series to gain widespread popularity concurrently with the spread of the internet, the Harry Potter septet arrived on the global stage at the perfect moment to develop an avid, connected fandom. But the fandom has laid bare the many conflicting ideologies of the fans themselves and of the actors surrounding the texts. This article examines the contentious issue of gender nonnormativity and its relation to the Harry Potter texts, the queer/trans reading practices and political resistance common to the fandom, and the ongoing disagreements over gender, made visible on social media, between Rowling and the fans of her series. The article discusses the Harry Potter novels’ varied and conflicting ideologies; queer/trans readings of the Potter septet, including both invitations and resistances to queer/trans reading by Rowling herself; how gender is queered and queried in and through fan fiction; and finally, the recent hostilities between Rowling and her fans. It concludes by discussing the worsening relationship between Rowling and her fans and highlighting how fans are using their collective power to undermine Rowling’s gender politics through fan fiction. By doing so, the article traces the complex politics of the reception of books for young people in the digital age, demonstrating that authors’ powerful voices continue to shape readers’ responses to texts long after their publication but showing, too, that readers often resist authors’ attempts to influence not only their textual interpretations but their politics.

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“…Not only children but also straight and queer adult recipients alike have responded massively -especially on social network sites on the web -to the series about a boy who once lived in a cupboard and became the greatest wizard of all time. On the one hand, Harry Potter has been widely criticized for its depiction of desire as "uncontroversially heterosexual" (Gupta 2009: 128), and thus for its reinforcement of heteronormativity as the only desirable life concept and for its rather conservative depiction of gender roles (Heilman 2003;Pugh/Wallace 2006;Pugh 2011). On the other hand, although there are no explicitly or openly gay characters in the original text, some critics have praised Harry's process of becoming a wizard as a strong metaphor for the act of coming out (Bronski 2003) and pointed to the protagonist's non-hegemonic masculinity (Gallardo/Smith 2003;Wannamaker 2008).…”

Section: Gender 2 | 2017 1 Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Queering Harry, slashing Potter: Between latent meanings and resistant readings

Cuntz-Leng¹

2017

Gender

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Innocence, Heterosexuality, and the Queerness of Children's Literature

Cited by 25 publications

References 0 publications

High-voiced Dark Lords and Boggarts in drag: Feminine-coded villainy in the Harry Potter series

High-voiced Dark Lords and Boggarts in drag: Feminine-coded villainy in the Harry Potter series

Transformative Readings: Harry Potter Fan Fiction, Trans/Queer Reader Response, and J. K. Rowling

Queering Harry, slashing Potter: Between latent meanings and resistant readings

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