UWS 18B: Queer Pulp Fiction
Instructor: Brenden ODonnell
Office: TBA
Mandel Center for the Humanities G10
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: MW 10-11
Mondays and Wednesdays, 9-9:50am
Introduction
What do we mean when we say literature is “queer”? In this class, we will attempt to
answer this question as we explore one genre: the midcentury pulp novel. Caught
between the sexual and gender experimentalism of high modernism and the Stonewall
riots, postwar gay and lesbian fiction has been largely overlooked as a dry spell in queer
history. The widespread popularity of homoerotic and lesbian-themed fiction has been
dismissed as a perverse fascination with the sexual repression and social oppression of
gays and lesbians. But what if we read this popularity as a victory of, rather than a failure
to, contemporary notions of queerness? What if even the most repressed and frustrated
gay and lesbian pulp characters actually present unprecedented complexities, rather than
social problems that need to be fixed? By reading homoerotic and lesbian-themed fiction,
you will be able to stake your own claims in this debate, making arguments about
whether and how these works can be understood as queer.
Objectives
 Think of gay and lesbian representation more critically, beyond the strictly positive
or negative question, “is it good for the gays?”
 Learn about the fictional conventions and literary context of the midcentury pulp
novel

Write convincing essays by carefully constructing arguments and using evidence
effectively
Course Information
Required Texts
 Write Now!, ed. Jodie Austin, Waltham, MA, 2015
 Writing in Response, Matthew Parfitt, New York, 2011
 Course Pack
Requirements
Essay One: The Close Reading Essay. In this assignment, you will argue whether or not
a text is pornographic by analyzing the moral implications of the language it uses to
describe homosexual life.
Essay Two: The Lens Essay. You will use Adrienne Rich’s “Compulsory
Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” to support your claim that a text of your choice
either succeeds or fails to authentically represent lesbian experience.
Essay Three: The Research Essay. Drawing upon both frames used in class and outside
resources, make an informed argument about pulp fiction’s influence on a queer short
story written since 1970.
Portfolio: At the end of class you will collect all of your work (including pre-draft
assignments, rough drafts, final drafts, and peer review sheets) and put it together in a
folder. You will give it to me, together with a letter describing how your understanding of
yourself as a writer has changed over the course of the semester. This means that you
need to keep all of your writing from the semester.
*All assignments are to be delivered electronically, by uploading them to LATTE.
Grading
 Predrafts: 15%
 Close reading essay: 15%
 Lens essay: 20%
 Researched argument: 30%
 Class participation (includes research presentations): 10%
 Portfolio (includes Latte posts, pre-drafts, and peer reviews): 10%
Policies
 Writing Center
The University Writing Center, located on the first floor of Goldfarb Library just
around the corner from the computer clusters, provides free one-on-one help with
your essays. You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this service. Writing
Center tutors are well trained and will work with you in 45 minute sessions that you
can schedule online:
(http://www.brandeis.edu/programs/writing/writingcenter/index.html). Students who
take advantage of this service will receive a form during their tutorial that will
entitle them to a 24-hour extension on the final draft of their essay. Essays will be
due electronically by midnight on the following day. Only one extension is allowed
per essay.

Late Work, Extensions and Minimum Page Requirements
I am usually willing to offer extensions, given legitimate reasons. If a catastrophe
happens and you are afraid your work will not be completed in time, contact me
more than 24 hours before the due date and arrange for an extension. Otherwise,
late work, including first drafts, will be penalized by a third of a grade per day
(B+BB- and so on) on the final paper. If a paper is due electronically at midnight
and you submit it at 12:01 AM, it is late. In addition, final papers that do not meet
minimum page requirements will be penalized by a third of a grade for each page that
the paper falls short.

Attendance
Missing classes is strongly discouraged. You are allowed three absences. For each
additional absence your final grade will be penalized by a third of a grade. Seven or
more absences will result in a failing grade. Please contact me in the event of an
emergency.

Laptops and Food
Laptops are not allowed in this class unless you require special accommodations.
Please keep food and chewing gum out of the classroom, as it can be distracting.

Academic Honesty
You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. The University policy on
academic honesty is distributed annually in section 5 of the Rights and
Responsibilities handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the
Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential
sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the University. If you
have any questions about my expectations, please ask.

Accommodations
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University
and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in class, please see me
right away.
UWS Outcomes
Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
 Use writing and discussion to work through and interpret complex ideas from
readings and other texts (e.g., visual, musical, verbal)
 Critically analyze your own and others' choices regarding language and form (e.g., in
student texts or formally published texts)
 Engage in multiple modes of inquiry using text (e.g., field research, library-based
inquiry, web searching)
 Incorporate significant research (as above) into writing that engages a question and/or
topic and uses it as a central theme for a substantive, research-based essay
 Use writing to support interpretations of text, and understand that there are multiple
interpretations of text
 Consider and express the relationship of your own ideas to the ideas of others
Processes
 Use written, visual, and/or experience-based texts as tools to develop ideas for writing
 Understand that writing takes place through recurring processes of invention,
revision, and editing
 Develop successful, flexible strategies for your own writing through the processes of
invention, revision, and editing
 Experience and understand the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
 Learn to critique your own and others' work
 Be reflective about your writing processes
Knowledge of Conventions
 Understand the conventions of particular genres of writing
 Use conventions associated with a range of dialects, particularly standardized written
English (but not necessarily limited to it)
 Recognize and address patterns in your writing that unintentionally diverge from
patterns expected by their audience/s
 Practice using academic citational systems (MLA) for documenting work
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
Unit One: Close Reading
Week 1
Aug 27 (Th, Monday schedule)
Introductions
Week 2
Aug 31 (M)
Read: Introduction (Bronski), The Night Air (Dowd 1950),
In Class: Go over syllabus, discuss readings, motive worksheet, close
reading
Sept 2 (W)
Week 3
Sept 7 (M)
Sept 9 (W)
Read: New Yorker article “Pulp’s Big Moment,” via link on LATTE,
Sam (Coleman 1959), “Spur Piece,” (Barr 1951)
In Class: Discuss readings, motive exercise
*No Class
Read: Maybe—Tomorrow (Little 1952)
In Class: Discuss readings, motive exercise
Sept 10 (Th, Monday Schedule)
Due: Pre-Draft 1.1 due tonight (remember to do both parts)
In class: close reading exercise
Week 4 (Conference week 1)
Sept 14 (M) *No Class
Due: Pre-draft 1.2
Sept 16 (W) Due: Full draft of Essay 1 with cover letter to me and your peers
(Midnight)
In class: Writing workshop to address introduction/conclusion,
structure/transition
Sept 18 (F) *No Class
Due: Essay 1 peer review letters to me and your peers (by 5pm)
Week 5
Sept 21 (M)
Sept 23 (W)
In Class: Peer review
*No Class
Unit 2: How to Work with a Text as a Lens
Week 6
Sept 28 (M)
*No Class
Due: Essay 1 final draft (by 5pm)
Sept 29 (Tuesday, Monday Schedule)
Read: Introduction (Katherine V. Forest), Spring Fire (Vin Packer), Chris
(Randy
Salem)
Sept 30 (W)
Week 7
Oct 5 (M)
Oct 7 (W)
In Class: Discuss Readings
Read: Beebo Brinker (Ann Bannon), Return to Lesbos (Valerie Taylor)
In Class: Discuss Readings
*No Class
Due: Pre-draft 2.1
Read: “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” (Adrienne
Rich)
In Class: Discuss reading
Week 8
Oct 12 (M)
Oct 14 (W)
Week 9
Oct 19 (M)
5pm)
Oct 20 (T)
Oct 21 (W)
Due: Pre-draft 2.2 (mini lens essay)
In Class: lens application practice
Due: Pre-draft 2.3
In Class: lens application practice
(Conference week 2)
Due: Full draft of essay 2 with cover letter to me and your peers (by
In Class: Essay presentations, evidence/analysis exercise
Due: Essay 2 peer review letters to me and your peers (by 5pm)
In Class: Peer review
Unit 3: Research Essay
Week 10
Oct 26 (M)
Oct 28 (W)
Week 11
Nov 2 (M)
Nov 4 (W)
Week 12
Due: Essay 2 final draft
Read: Write Now! Essay (TBD)
In Class: Research introduction, sources handout, Write Now! Essay
Read: from Rubyfruit Jungle (Rita Mae Brown 1973)
In Class: Discuss Reading, Write Now! Essay
Read: from Invisible Life (E. Lynn Harris 1991)
In Class: Discuss Reading
Read: “Brokeback Mountain” (Annie Proulx 1999),
In Class: Discuss Reading
Nov 9 (M)
Nov 11 (W)
Week 13
Nov 16 (M)
Nov 18 (W)
Week 14
Nov 23 (M)
Nov 25 (W)
Read: “Caravan” (Gerry Gomez Pearlberg), “The Great Baptism”
(Thurmond)
In Class: Discuss Reading
Read: “Reprise” (Edmund White)
In Class: Discuss reading, workshop ideas, asking analytical questions
Due: Pre-draft 3.1
In Class: FLIP Session
Due: Pre-draft 3.2
In Class: Library field trip
Due: Pre-draft 3.3, Research presentations
In Class: Research presentations
*No Class
Due: Full draft of essay 3 with cover letter to me and your peers (by
5pm)
Week 15
Nov 30 (M)
Dec 2 (W)
Week 16
Dec 7 (M)
Dec 9 (W)
(Conference week 3)
Due: Essay 3 peer review letters to me and your peers (by 5pm)
In Class: Writing Exercise
In Class: Peer Review
In Class: Write Now! Essay, discussion
Due: Essay 3 final draft
Due: Essay 3 review letters
Due: Portfolio with cover