酷儿理论现实与想象相互作用—袁洪庚兰州

1、Queer Theory: Interacting between Realities and Fantasies （酷儿理论: 现实与想象的相互作用） Yuan HonggengJuly 24，20091报告人学术背景 袁洪庚，博士（香港大学），现任外国语学院三级教授；主要研究方向为英语文学；在文艺研究、 外国文学评论、 外国文学研究、 外语教学与研究、外国文学、文艺报、国外文学、当代外国文学、外国语、译林、China Today、等文学界、外语界的权威、核心刊物（CSSCI）上发表转折与流变：中国当代玄学侦探小说发生论等论文几十篇，其中有多篇收入中国人大书报资料中心外国文学研究集刊；译有北

2、回归线等英语文学作品8部，另在世界文学等刊物上发表译文几十篇，共约160万字；近年来主要从事后现代主义文学研究，是中国大陆系统研究玄学侦探小说第一人。通信地址：730000 兰州天水南路222号兰州大学外国语学院电话：电子邮件：2Main Contents1. Queer theory 2. Marching towards democracy?3. Sociological realities vs. literary fantasies4. Where are we and where are we heading to?3 Introduction: Queer theory grew

3、out of homosexual gay/lesbian studies Queer theory is a branch of study or theoretical speculation. Teresa de Lauretis the feminist first used the term in 1990. Gay/lesbian studies, in turn, grew out of feminist studies and feminist theory. 4The word queer“ is originally a derogatory term, now used

4、by gays and lesbians to refer to themselves.The word queer is originally an offensive term for an openly homosexual person, odd, unconventional, or eccentric, as in behavior and speech, hence its alignment with ideas about homosexuality. 5How the term “queer” came into beingThe term queer eventually

5、 came into being because both gays, who preferred regarding themselves as males, and lesbians, who, aligning themselves with the feminist movement, condemned the gay movement as sharing the anti-female attitudes of reigning patriarchal culture agreed upon the notion of queer. 6To describe oneself as

6、 a queer is to resist all that are considered “straight” . 71. Queer theoryQueer theory is basically deconstructive and a trend with the broader conception of postmodernism, as shown in its dismantling of the key binary oppositions of Western culture, such as, in the aspect of human sexuality, sex/g

7、ender, male/female, heterosexual/homosexual, natural/unnatural, etc. As a new subculture, queer theory is a new way of expressing ones desire. It subverts not only the hegemony of heterosexual, but also bygone homosexual theories. 8Queer theory is meant to reexamine human sexuality and to enlighten

8、those who are still ignorant 巴西圣保罗，四十万人参加同性恋大游行 9an interdisciplinary and combined trendQueer theory is not a particular or concrete theory like feminist theory or some isms like Romanticism; it is an interdisciplinary and combined trend or hypothesis, relating to sociology, history, anthropology, f

9、ine arts and literature. 10Homosexuals are born or made?Debates between biological essentialists 本质论者 and social constructivists 【建构论者】Either “I am homosexual because of my genes.” Or “I am homosexual because of my brain.” Foucault, as one of the first constructivists, claiming that sexuality and se

10、xual conduct is not a natural category, having a foundation in reality. Instead, it is a question of social constructions, categories only having an existence in a society, and that probably are not applicable to other societies than our own.11Feminist theory insists that gender is not something ess

11、ential to an individuals identity. Feminist theory separates the social from the biological, and the constructed and the innate, insisting that we see a difference between what is the product of human ideas, hence something mutable and changeable, and what is the product of biology, hence something

12、(relatively) stable and unchangeable. 122. Marching towards democracy?13 Michel Foucault (1926 - 1984) and his History of Sexuality Has impact on areas such as - Sociology, Historiography, Gay and Lesbian Studies, Marxism, Cultural Studies and Literary Studies (& New Historicism)Two Major Claims:- M

13、an is a product of modernity;- Knowledge is not Truth, but power. 14Foucaults views on sexuality and human bodySexuality not something hidden but “a great surface network in which the stimulation of bodies, the intensification of pleasures, the incitement to discourse, the formation of knowledge, th

14、e strengthening of controls and resistances, are linked to one another. 15Foucaults views on sexuality and human body2. Modified body as an interface between internal forces (psychic, physiological) and the external social forces. 16Foucaults toleranceHe argues that human relations are in fact monot

15、onously boring and so-called “varieties of abnormal sex” should be permitted, such as homosexual, bisexual, S&M （Sadism and Masochism）, orgy, He advocates taboos, divisions and restrains on sexuality should be abolished. He regards homosexual as a stance of being and an art of life, instead of a sex

16、ual identity or a sexual orientation173. Sociological realities vs. literary reflections“Territory” The story: Mrs. Campbell brought her only son Neil up, only to find he is a queer. She hides her disappointment and tries to help him and pretends self-deceptively that as long as her son is happy she

17、 will be contented. But she finds it hard sometimes to bear her son, his lover, and the lifestyle of homosexuals. David Leavitt, 1961-18One episode from “Territory”Neil holds his lover Waynes hand while seeing a movie, his mother is annoyed. “I know what you were doing.”“I remember when you were a l

18、ittle boy, and I have to stop remembering. I wanted you to grow up happy. And Im very tolerant, very understanding. But I can only take so much.” 19Oedipus complex: the undercurrentThe boy was on guard of being affected by Oedipus complex. That is one more example of life mimicking art.20Queer theor

19、y and literature: Interrelations 1. Literature, as a mock reference frame of human life, illustrates queer theory, as in “Territory”2. Queer theory anticipates or brings about related literature, as in “A Place Ive Never Been” 214. Where are we and where are we heading to?Power as Foucault understan

20、ds, is closely-related to sex in any regime and in any age. Sex is a means, through which power is ruthlessly exercised. 22It is often that sex is described as a sexual desire for the procession of power confrontation with a stubborn impulse. Although the power makes every effort to conquer sexual d

21、esire, but sexual desire cannot be fully controlled. Foucault believes that the situation was exactly the opposite， i. e. sex betrays its nature through power。 23Taboos in sex are anthropologically, ethnographically 民族学地】, economically, politically, demographically【人口统计学地】or otherwise oriented Some

22、modern myths about homosexuals:Incest ethnographically degenerates a nationHomosexuals do not give birth to babies, henceforth they help to reduce the population of a nation;Bisexuals transfer horrible diseases like AIDS (never proved); 24Sex: serving what purposes?From time immemorial to the presen

23、t day, sex has been serving three purposes, i.e. to reproduce biological instinct of all animals, as Mencius expressed “There are three things that are unfilial, and to have no posterity is the greatest of them” 不孝有三, 无后为大”, 25Sex: serving what purposes? to establish or maintain interpersonal relati

24、ons as in the case of Wang Zhaojun and countless marriages at all levels of society, And, lastly, for sensual pleasure, which is indeed the fundamental or ontological purpose. Christianity also insists that sex should serve the sole purpose of reproduction, not for sensual pleasure 26Radicals like F

25、oucault and the Chinese sexpert Li Yinhe argue that various forms of sexual behavior should be allowed, as 200 years ago in Europe, then sex was not regarded as anything else or as an attachment to politics, religion, economynor was it a reflection of mans nature, nor character.27Recent scientific research shows human beings can have as many as 17