Refractions: Queer History Cast Through Experimental Poetry

Meunier, Paul

Refractions: Queer History Cast Through Experimental Poetry

dc.contributor.advisor	Sullivan, Rebecca
dc.contributor.advisor	Lai, Larissa
dc.contributor.author	Meunier, Paul
dc.contributor.committeemember	Sullivan, Rebecca
dc.contributor.committeemember	Lai, Larissa
dc.contributor.committeemember	Prud'homme-Cranford, Rain L.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Mason, Derritt
dc.contributor.committeemember	Leblanc, Jean-René
dc.contributor.committeemember	Crawford, Lucas
dc.date	2024-05
dc.date.accessioned	2024-01-17T22:33:03Z
dc.date.available	2024-01-17T22:33:03Z
dc.date.issued	2024-01-16
dc.description.abstract	Refractions, the creative manuscript in this dissertation, presents a long-form poetry narrative of the figurative being Thousand, born through refracted light in future Calgary, Alberta, that follows their search for family in an unfamiliar space. Divided into five “Movements” that emulate a symphony, Thousand’s search for their parentage reveals a familial fabric of queerness and kinship, beyond the nuclear family unit, as they slowly learn of the community network that surrounds them. In this future space, mothers and aunts create worlds like gods, characters forge bonds across thresholds of life and death, and queer parents represent a space for love, creation, and generative capacity, outside of traditional notions of progeny. Refractions is a story of queer kinship, chosen family, and ontological awakening. As Thousand learns where they come from, authorial memoirs are stored, illuminated, and shared within the site of the queer and future archive. By exploring multidirectional conduits between past and future, Thousand not only learns of where they come from and the formative powers of chosen family, but they discover their own language for queer identity, agency, and the capacity to pursue an undefined future. The critical exegesis presents a lineage of creative foundations and theoretical examinations that influence this manuscript. These include the short stories that weave antinarrative together in Wayde Compton’s The Outer Harbour, and the speculative fiction and mythmaking in Catherynne M. Valente’s Silently and Very Fast. Theoretical reflections underscore the importance of writing as community-situated, the politics of cultural appropriation, ethics and accountabilities. Refractions also considers the charge in José Esteban Muñoz’s pursuit for queer utopia, mindful of how Joan Retallack’s “The Poethical Wager” challenges writers to explore ethically and responsibly. In this way, Refractions considers how Thousand might hold their own space, agency, and limitless potential to pursue a Queer Poethics.
dc.identifier.citation	Meunier, P. (2024). Refractions: queer history cast through experimental poetry (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117981
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Poetry
dc.subject	Queer
dc.subject	Kinship
dc.subject	Speculative Writing
dc.subject	Experimental Writing
dc.subject.classification	Literature--English
dc.subject.classification	Language--Modern
dc.subject.classification	Anthropology--Cultural
dc.title	Refractions: Queer History Cast Through Experimental Poetry
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	English
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I require a thesis withhold – I need to delay the release of my thesis due to a patent application, and other reasons outlined in the link above. I have/will need to submit a thesis withhold application.