Following up on Dr. Angel Daniel Matos's Talk

On Wednesday November 7th 2018, Linda Salem organized an introductory lecture for the recently curated Juvenile Collection display on queer young adult (YA) literature. This talk, entitled "LGBTQ+ Representation in Young Adult Literature, Then and Now" was given by Dr. Angel Daniel Matos who presented a historicized understanding of how queer themes and characters appeared within adolescent literature and the recent developments occurring within the field. Dr. Matos focused on highlighting the complex affective implications that are present within the genre of queer YA literature, but how incorporating positive interventions and critiques can generate more productive discourses surrounding these novels.

Dr. Matos began his talk with explaining how optimism and hope operate as critical points of focus within YA literature, but this positive affect was complicated upon the introduction of queer narratives into the genre. Because queerness worked against heteronormative societal structures, discussing queerness with positive affect was deemed as incongruent with the realities possible for audiences. Moreover, queerness within the genre was often posited in opposition to the optimism and positivity that was possible for heterosexual people, thus making it an unreachable possibility for early queer characters. 

When queerness challenged these societal structure, it often led to the death and demise of queer characters in early YA novels. These deaths, as Matos argued, often only worked to challenge and develop the characterization of straight characters in novels, which further confirmed that happiness and future-oriented thinking was not accessible for queer people. This sense of unhappiness, nonetheless, became a political act that more contemporary works challenge and expand upon.

Matos argues that thinking optimistically in a negative world, especially when regarding young audiences, can help foster potentialities of happiness and futurity. He highlighted contemporary queer YA novels that present adolescent characters within positive ideologies that still works towards embracing aspects of futurity for young readers. He advocated for the need to foster connectivity, kinship, and diverse representation within the genre in order to better represent queerness and further develop the field of queer YA literature.

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Dr. Matos shared several novels that revolutionized the genre starting with John Donovan's 1969 novel I'll Get There, It Better Be Worth The Trip--the first YA novel to appear that grappled with homosexuality for its protagonists. He also discussed Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind, which is the first novel to have a positive depiction of lesbian characters for young adult audiences. For a contemporary example, Matos shred David Levithan's Boy Meets Boy, a novel that works to present queerness within a utopic setting that normalizes diverse expressions of gender and sexuality.  

If you'd like to know more about Dr. Matos's suggestions or ideas just follow him on Twitter to see his syllabi and other projects (@ProfAngelMatos). Thank you to all that attended and to Dr. Matos for providing so much information. A special thank you to Linda Salem for organizing this event and working closely with the NCSCL.

-A. Elliott