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A Proximate Remove: Queering Intimacy and Loss in The Tale of Genji
A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program.
How might queer theory transform our interpretations of medieval Japanese literature and how might this literature reorient the assumptions, priorities, and critical practices of queer theory? Through a close reading of The Tale of Genji, an eleventh-century text that depicts the lifestyles of aristocrats during the Heian period, A Proximate Remove explores this question by mapping the destabilizing aesthetic, affective, and phenomenological dimensions of experiencing intimacy and loss. The spatiotemporal fissures Reginald Jackson calls "proximate removes" suspend belief in prevailing structures. Beyond issues of sexuality, Genji queers in its reluctance to romanticize or reproduce a flawed social order. An understanding of this hesitation enhances how we engage with premodern texts and how we question contemporary disciplinary stances.
How might queer theory transform our interpretations of medieval Japanese literature and how might this literature reorient the assumptions, priorities, and critical practices of queer theory? Through a close reading of The Tale of Genji, an eleventh-century text that depicts the lifestyles of aristocrats during the Heian period, A Proximate Remove explores this question by mapping the destabilizing aesthetic, affective, and phenomenological dimensions of experiencing intimacy and loss. The spatiotemporal fissures Reginald Jackson calls "proximate removes" suspend belief in prevailing structures. Beyond issues of sexuality, Genji queers in its reluctance to romanticize or reproduce a flawed social order. An understanding of this hesitation enhances how we engage with premodern texts and how we question contemporary disciplinary stances.
- GenresNonfiction
251 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 22, 2021
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February 20, 2022
Another brilliant piece of literary criticism. Not only are Jackson's readings of the Tale of Genji highly engaging and interesting, but his engagement with queer theory is also highly moving. I am thinking especially of a particular passage whereby Jackson relates the character Suetsumuhana with his experience with bullies. This kind of openness to vulnerability really reminds me of the humanity I found in John Treat's Great Mirrors Shattered, and I couldn't help but be moved by Jackson's passage.
I especially stand with Jackson on the point of thinking through queer theory not only in terms of sexuality, but also in broader ways such as looking for ways to make our lives more livable under structures of violence and oppression. As a reading of queer theory, this book says something that I also feel myself thinking about regularly but never really hear people talk about much.
And of course, as a reading of the Tale of Genji, A Proximate Remove succeeds at what I think is a criterium for great literary criticism: it makes me want to read the tale too!
I especially stand with Jackson on the point of thinking through queer theory not only in terms of sexuality, but also in broader ways such as looking for ways to make our lives more livable under structures of violence and oppression. As a reading of queer theory, this book says something that I also feel myself thinking about regularly but never really hear people talk about much.
And of course, as a reading of the Tale of Genji, A Proximate Remove succeeds at what I think is a criterium for great literary criticism: it makes me want to read the tale too!
Displaying 1 of 1 review