The Family Bliss

Looking is a creative dissertation about a drag queen who invades the home of an unsuspecting family and seduces them each one by one. Three months after changing their name and pronouns and coming out as nonbinary, Zee Bliss returns home from college. There, they discover their coming-out announcement has been overshadowed by a rift in their parents’ marriage. Zee’s mother, Myra Bliss, an art professor, has been accused of sexual assault by a student. Radley Bliss, Zee's father, copes with his wife's indiscretion by attempting an affair with a much younger woman. Amid such strife, Zee battles with the dysphoria of their parents not just misunderstanding their new identity but ignoring it altogether. Seeking solace, Zee reaches out to their friend Tak, or Fumi Once as he is known in drag. Over the course of the following week, Tak’s stubborn presence disrupts the conflict of the Bliss household as, in secret, he begins seducing each of them in turn. Told in lush, humorous prose and utilizing a multi-POV form, Looking asks questions about biological and chosen family, gender identity, and how queerness can deepen every person’s sense of self-understanding, regardless of identity.

Author dc:creator

• Em Williamson (24400649)

• Novel

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright
• Open Access after 2031-05-01

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.32995739.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32995739