They are “liberated from history.”

If you didn’t get a chance to attend Dr. Michelle Abates talk on Wednesday, February 20^th at SDSU’s Love Library, then you missed a great talk on queer futurity and “queer retrosity.” Dr. Abate began her talk, “Out of History: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, the 1980s, and the Reclamation of a Lost Past,” by first situating the novel in queer young adult genre and then in the history at the center of the plot.

The author tells us, “It was hard to be gay in the 80s. It wasn’t safe to be gay in the 80s.” Abate clarifies misconceptions about the AIDS crisis by underscoring America’s response to the many lives lost as the government failed to act. She notes that “AIDS was a pivotal social issue in 1987.” While politicians such as Pat Buchannan blamed the victims of this crisis with judgmental comments, “Those poor homosexuals—they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution,”[1] organizations like ACT UP moved to educated America.

Abate notes that while the AIDS epidemic is a central part of the time in which Sáenz’s novel is set, to make it the focal point opens Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe up to what Sedgwick defines as a “paranoid reading.” Therefore, according to Abate, a reparative reading of Sáenz’s novel surprises us by imagining a more utopian past through what she calls “queer retrosity.” She goes on to say that the novel “upends our preconceptions” and therefore, Ari and Dante are “liberated from history.” 

(KT)

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[1] https://thinkprogress.org/flashback-buchanan-aids-is-natures-awful-retribution-against-homosexuality-2049a2734cfb/

Welcoming the New Graduate Assistant

Hello everyone!

My name is Sofia St. John and I am currently in my first year of my M.A. degree in English with a specialization in Children’s Literature. I am interested in diving deeper into queer studies, sexuality studies, and disability studies in children’s and young adult literature and I am particularly drawn to young adult books exploring diverse identities in adolescents.

I just presented my paper, “(En)Able the (Dis)Abled” at the 40^th Annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association, exploring representations of disability in young adult literature, and I hope to delve deeper into the topic of disabled identities in children’s and young adult literature. 

As a child I quickly developed a passion for reading and language in general, which seemed to pave the way for my future studies. I was constantly reading to the point where I would get in trouble for being up too late with a flashlight and a book. The first Harry Potter stole my heart at six years old and seemed to spark my true passion for reading. My interests for reading slowly developed into a love for fantasy and fiction, and especially horror and supernatural elements in young adult literature.

When I am not doing work for the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature or schoolwork, I can be found with my nose in a book, researching or writing novels, trying to find the next horror movie or obscure documentary, or looking at one too many pictures of dogs. A couple books that have stolen my heart are The Female of The Species by Mindy McGinnis and the Six of Crows series; I am always looking forward to finding a new book.

I am so thankful to be a part of the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, and I cannot wait to see what this semester brings. I look forward to learning more in the vast and ever-evolving world of children’s literature and I hope to bring my own voice into the conversation. I would love to chat with you about literature or anything else. 

-SS

Join us for “Cinderella Today: Rewriting, Adapting and Translating a Classic Fairy Tale” a talk given by Danielle Teller, Dr. Joseph T. Thomas Jr., and Dr. Audrey Coussy

Please join us on March 4^th at 1:30 pm in San Diego State University’s Scripps Cottage for 

“Cinderella Today: Rewriting, Adapting and Translating a Classic Fairy Tale.”

The talk will begin with Dr. Joseph T. Thomas Jr., professor of children’s and young adult literature and director of the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, who will talk about the constitutive role that adaptation played from the very origins of Cinderella’s story. Next will be Dr. Audrey Coussy, professor of translation studies and literary translation at McGill University, will talk about her translation of Danielle Teller’s All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderalla’s Stepmother (2018), a contemporary and innovative rewriting of Cinderella (translation forthcoming in 2019, published by Denoël/Gallimard). Finally, Danielle Tell will discuss her book in dialogue with Dr. Coussy. This lecture focuses on translation as adaptation and adaptation as a kind of translation. Teller’s text reimagines the 17^th century French fairy tale “Cinderella,” by Charles Perrault.

We hope to see you there!

(KT)

Julián is a Mermaid

Jessica Love’s Julián is a Mermaid is an elegant picture book about a young Afro-Latinx boy, Julián, who loves mermaids. In soft colors and gentle edges, Love creates a dream-like story tugging our heart strings. He dreams of letting his hair free and swimming in the ocean, as shown in dreamy, paint-like illustrations. Upon seeing three beautiful women on the subway dressed as mermaids, Julián reports to his abuela, “I am also a mermaid” (Love, 2018). After seeing these women, he arranges leaves and flowers to resemble long, flowing hair, dons a popping purple pout, and ties a curtain around his waist like a lacy mermaid’s tail. Julián's abuela enters, and the reader’s breath is bound to catch as Julián is discovered dressed in false hair and a tail-like wrap. His abuela, instead of shaming or shushing him, offers him a pearl necklace, and takes him to see a parade of mermaids, saying, “Like you, mijo. Let’s join them.” In this tender moment, his abuela’s complete acceptance and encouragement makes some of us smile, but apparently, not everyone. 

Love was inspired by this book upon hearing about her trans friend’s experience of transition to be a man late in his life, alongside episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race. She tossed around ideas of the young boy encountering drag queens until she stumbled upon the symbolism of a mermaid within the trans community. Love has been drawn to mermaids, and says, “there’s something about mermaids. Who knows if that’s because they’re magical creatures who can live between two realities or because they don’t have any genitals, or because they’re f***ing great” (Pink News 2019). Mermaids became symbolic in the trans community due to having nothing but a tail, and the Disney film The Little Mermaid gained more significance: it portrays a main character desiring to discard her tails for legs to change her form an entire half of her body. Such symbolism seemed to ring true in Julián's narrative. 

While Love’s story can be read as a portrayal of the transgender experience, it can also simply read as a boy expressing his curiosity or love for mermaids, bringing a wide audience of readers-children and adult alike. 

Although this charming book has been winning hearts and awards alike, awards such as the 2019 Stonewall Book Award, many were upset with the depiction of the transgender experience. A blogger known as “The Book Toss”, states “by creating this almost immediate acceptance, Jessica Love negated the real struggle so many Latinx LGBTQ people must go through. Is that is [sic] the message the author is trying to send? Probably. But, it lands flat to me. For me, this comes from a place of privilege that would rather a mermaid trope carry the message and ignore the very real issues at work” (Blog, 2018). 

Despite the potential controversy, we immediately fell for young Julián and his desire to become a mermaid. With messages of tolerance and love, his imagination calls the reader to think outside their prescribed norms to show us that perhaps anyone can be a mermaid. We invite you to open this book and your mind to Love’s beautiful picture book. 

(SS)

Works Cited:

Jackman, Josh. “ Trans Kids’ Book ‘Julián Is a Mermaid’ Is Winning Hearts and Awards .” PinkNews, 17 Feb. 2019, www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/02/17/trans-kids-book-julian-is-a-mermaid-awards/.

Love, Jessica. Julián Is a Mermaid. Candlewick, 2018.

“Trans People Aren't Mythical Creatures.” BookToss, 24 Sept. 2018, booktoss.blog/2018/09/24/trans-people-arent-mythical-creatures/.