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Queer LitQueer Lit is a podcast about LGBTQIA* literature and culture. In each episode, literary studies researcher Lena Mattheis talks to an expert in the field of queer studies. Topics include lesbian literature, inclusive pronouns and language, gay... Author: Lena Mattheis Language: en Genres: Arts, Books, Education Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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“Queer Exiles” with Ben Robbins
Monday, 19 January, 2026
From Christopher Isherwood to Djuna Barnes, some of the most prolific queer writers of the 20th century wrote in exile. Ben Robbins joins me to explain how and why queer writers connected with each other in exile and how (in)voluntary movement shaped their stories. Ben shares some surprising encounters from the archives and paints a picture of some of the locations of queer exile: Berlin, Tangier and Capri. References:Networked Narratives: Queer Exile Literature 1900-1969Funded by the Austrian Science Fund/FWF (Project DOI: 10.55776/P35199) https://www.uibk.ac.at/projects/networkednarratives/Ben Robbins’ “‘Marriages ought to be secret’: Queer Marriages of Convenience and the Exile Narrative” JAAAS: Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, Dec. 2023, pp. 100–122, https://doi.org/10.47060/jaaas.v5i1.173.Networks of Anglophone LGBTQ+ Exile Writershttp://queerexilelit.uibk.ac.at/ Robbins, Ben, and Ralph J. Poole. "Introduction: Queer Ruralisms." AmLit – American Literatures 4.2 (2024): 4-21.Ben Robbins’ Faulkner's Hollywood Novels: Women between Page and Screen (University of Virginia Press 2024) https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5855/Queer Second CitiesMaria SulimmaBen Robbins’ “Christopher Isherwood in Exile” https://www.huntington.org/verso/christopher-isherwood-exileHarry Ransom CenterBryher (Annie Winifred Ellerman)Oscar WildeW. Somerset MaughamE.F. BensonJohn Ellingham BrooksRomaine BrooksJohn EllermanRobert McAlmonDjuna Barnes’ NightwoodNatalie BarneyChristopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to BerlinStephen Spender’s The TempleJane Bowles’ Two Serious LadiesW.H. AudenPatricia HighsmithAllen GinsbergClaude McKayThornton WilderBen Robbins. "Space, Sexuality, and Thornton Wilder's Villa Rhabani." Thornton Wilder Journal 5:1, November 2024, pp. 99-119. DOI: 10.5325/thorntonwilderj.5.1.0099 https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/thornton-wilder/article-abstract/5/1/99/392187/Space-Sexuality-and-Thornton-Wilder-s-Villa?redirectedFrom=fulltextOpen access: https://ulb-dok.uibk.ac.at/urn/urn:nbn:at:at-ubi:3-40689William Burroughs’ Naked LunchAlfred Chester’s Looking for Genet: Literary Essays and ReviewsSusan SontagGore VidalHenry JamesTruman Capote Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: How does Ben define ‘exile’? How is this similar to and different from ‘expat’? How does exile relate to class status and financial means? Why are queer networks so important in this context? What does Ben say about exile and (involuntary) movement affecting narrative form? How do you find out where you can safely travel?
