Queens University Charlotte Presents Seelbinder Literary Arts Series Speaker
The Queens University of Charlotte English Department is presenting the Seelbinder Literary Arts Series speaker, Dr. Dustin Friedman. A literature professor at American University in Washington, D.C., he is author of Before Queer Theory: Victorian Aestheticism and the Self. His writings on the history of sexuality appear in Victorian Studies, ELH, and Feminist Modernist Studies.
His talk will discuss the Victorian supernatural tale “Oke of Okehurst” by lesbian writer Vernon Lee. In the hetero-patriarchal culture of Victorian England, literary representations of desire between women were difficult to find. Lee’s ghostly short story transforms this seeming disadvantage into an opportunity to affirm a sense of self for queer women.