The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature - (Routledge Literature Handbooks) by Douglas A Vakoch & Sabine Sharp (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature examines the intersection of transgender studies and literary studies, bringing together essays from global experts in the field.

Book Synopsis

The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature examines the intersection of transgender studies and literary studies, bringing together essays from global experts in the field. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of trans literature, highlighting the core topics, genres, and periods important for scholarship now and in the future.

Covering the main approaches and key literary genres of the area, this volume includes:

• Examination of the core topics guiding contemporary trans literary theory and criticism, including the Anthropocene, archival speculation, activism, BDSM, Black studies, critical plant studies, culture, diaspora, disability, ethnocentrism, home, inclusion, monstrosity, nondualist philosophies, nonlinearity, paradox, pedagogy, performativity, poetics, religion, suspense, temporality, visibility, and water.

• Exploration of diverse literary genres, forms, and periods through a trans lens, such as archival fiction, artificial intelligence narratives, autobiography, climate fiction, comics, creative writing, diaspora fiction, drama, fan fiction, gothic fiction, historical fiction, manga, medieval literature, minor literature, modernist literature, mystery and detective fiction, nature writing, poetry, postcolonial literature, radical literature, realist fiction, Renaissance literature, Romantic literature, science fiction, travel writing, utopian literature, Victorian literature, and young adult literature.

This comprehensive volume will be of great interest to scholars and students of literature, gender studies, trans studies, literary theory, and literary criticism.

Review Quotes

"The sheer depth and breadth of this hefty volume put the lie to prevalent contemporary misrepresentations of trans phenomena as both recent and primarily medical in nature. It spans centuries, genres, and themes to orient scholars and lay readers alike to a vast body of creative literary work by trans people or about trans topics."

--Susan Stryker, Professor Emerita of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Arizona, author of Transgender History, and founding co-editor of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly

"Committed equally to breadth, depth, and studied reflexivity, this book thoughtfully brings an impressive, motley array of voices; conceptual frameworks; urgent political and philosophical questions; and historical, cultural, and disciplinary contexts to bear on trans literature. Arriving at a moment when the stakes of any conflict over how "trans" will be read and represented could not be more clear, The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature will be valuable resource for writers, students, teachers, and readers of trans lit -- anyone interested in cultivating the forms of life, thought, and creativity that "trans" has enabled and might yet."

-- Cameron Awkward-Rich, Associate Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment

"The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature models a broad, deep, interdisciplinary understanding of trans literature that is self-critical about its categories, assumptions, and procedures; embraces a dynamic view of what "trans" and other relevant sex and gender categories have meant, can mean, and may mean in the future; and pushes the cultural, geographical, historical, biographical, categorical, formal, and conceptual boundaries of the literature we read as "trans." As a whole and in its compelling parts, this collection will inspire and empower all readers, whatever their identification, to read from trans perspectives and through trans methodologies."

-- Joy Ladin, former David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Yeshiva University and author of Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey between Genders

"An essential guide to trans literature, in all its forms. The Handbook looks at the achievements of past trans literature, offering a fresh perspective on key texts. While showing how politically vital literature is in a present that is becoming ever more transphobic, this volume also anticipates what future trans literature might look like, suggesting exciting ways it could evolve."

-- Juliet Jacques, Associate Lecturer on Contemporary Art Practice MA at the Royal College of Art and author of Trans: A Memoir

"This timely collection arrives at a fraught moment: one marked by both transphobic backlash and a remarkable "trans literary revolution," to use Casey Plett's phrase. The Handbook's wide-ranging chapters and diverse contributors help us make sense of this moment--and of the pasts and possible futures of trans representation and liberation."

-- Nicole Seymour, Professor of English at California State University, Fullerton and author of Strange Natures: Futurity, Empathy, and the Queer Ecological Imagination

"What a rich, transhistorical, transcultural collection--as stimulating as it is field-forming. It's a foundational piece of scholarship that I can't wait to teach with and think with."

-- Kit Heyam, freelance writer, historian, trans awareness trainer, heritage practitioner and author of Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender

About the Author

Douglas A. Vakoch is President of METI, dedicated to Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Dr. Vakoch's recent books include Transecology: Transgender Perspectives on Environment and Nature (2020), Transgender India: Understanding Third Gender Identities and Experiences (2022), The Routledge Handbook of Ecofeminism and Literature (2023), and Indian Transgender Literature: Fiction and Autobiography in Regional Perspective (2024).

Sabine Sharp is a scholar of trans and science fiction studies. In 2021, they completed a PhD titled "Monsters, Time-Travel, and Aliens: Tracing the Genealogies of 'Trans' through Feminist Science Fiction Writing and Film" (University of Manchester). Alongside writing about feminist, queer, and trans media and politics, they work as an e-learning support officer at the University of Manchester Library.