Queer Callings: Untimely Notes on Names and Desires

Mark D. Jordan's book Queer Callings extends his critical analysis of the present uses of "identity" with regard to sexual difference, inviting readers to consider how understandings of "sexual identity" have shifted and continue to shift over time. It re-reads texts in various genres that have been preoccupied with naming sex/gender diversity beyond a scheme of LGBTQ+ identities, and argues that current habits for classifying them must be disrupted before it is possible to perceive sexual identities differently. Jordan reveals that the terms "sexual identity" and allied phrases are newer than we might imagine, and that many queer folk now counted as literary or political ancestors didnt claim a sexual or gender identity. Queer Callings is a generatively destabilizing and essential read that opens our eyes to extraordinary opportunities in our present and future.

Format: Hardback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 07 November 2023
Publisher: Fordham University Press

A fervent plea to broaden our vocabulary regarding human sex, sexuality, and gender. Twenty-five years ago, Mark D. Jordan released his seminal work on the invention and early history of the category "sodomy," which played a significant role in decriminalizing certain sexual acts in the United States and removing the word "sodomy" from the updated version of a standard English translation of the Christian Bible. In Queer Callings, Jordan extends the same critical analysis to present-day uses of "identity" with regard to sexual difference. While the stakes may not seem as high, he acknowledges that his latest history of sexuality is just as vital to a better present and future. Shaking up current conversations that revolve around "identity language," this essential new book seeks to restore queer languages of desire by inviting readers to consider how understandings of "sexual identity" have shifted—and continue to shift—over time. Queer Callings re-reads texts in various genres—literary and political, religious and autobiographical—that have been preoccupied with naming sex/gender diversity beyond a scheme of LGBTQ+ identities. Engaging a wide range of literary and critical works concerned with sex/gender self-understanding in relation to "spirituality," Jordan takes up the writings of Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust, Djuna Barnes, Samuel R. Delany, Audre Lorde, Geoff Mains, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Gloria Anzaldúa, Maggie Nelson, and others. Before it is possible to perceive sexual identities differently, Jordan argues, current habits for classifying them must be disrupted. In this way, Queer Callings asks us to go beyond identity language and invites us to re-perform a selection of alternate languages—some from before the invention of phrases like "sexual identity," .

Weight: 544g
Dimension: 203 x 127 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781531504533