'AS VIVID AS BLOOD IN A SINK': (RE)READING QUEERNESS AND REPRESSION IN TEJU COLE'S OPEN CITY

<p>Teju Cole’s <em>Open City </em>(2011) is an exemplar work of contemporary fiction. For its complex representation of subjectivity, hypnotic narrative tone, and global political scope, the novel<em> </em>has been praised by readers and critics alike. Julius, the text’s first-person narrator, guides us along seemingly innocent wanderings throughout New York City, ruminating on history, art, and politics while presenting himself as the enlightened, cosmopolitan ideal. However, the shocking penultimate revelation that Julius raped a young woman from his past alters our encounter with the text and its narrator. We come to realize that this meandering novel is, in reality, a carefully curated attempt to repress a violent past. Many scholars, and Teju Cole himself, have explored the benefits of rereading <em>Open City</em> with the revelation of Julius’s rape in mind, noting the various hidden signs that become more obvious indicators of his problematic character. However, no critic has paid adequate attention to Julius’s sexuality. By adopting a psychoanalytic lens invested in Julius’s memories, dreams, familial dynamics, and psychic aversions, this project uncovers a complex network of signs indicating that Julius is, in fact, a queer character. Once identified as queer, I argue that the intense intersections of Julius’s emerging sexuality, uncomfortable family dynamics, and learned toxically masculine traits from military school converge to produce his violent actions and the subsequent repression of his victim intertwined with more subtle aversions to queerness, sexuality, and intersubjectivity.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Hoda, Jack

Contributors dc:contributor

• Monika Gehlawat
• Ery Shin
• Shane Wood

• Teju Cole
• Open City
• queer
• psychoanalysis
• rape
• sexuality
• Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/882

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1945