Stroke Book: The Diary of a Blindspot

Jonathan Alexander's Stroke Book explores how a culture toxic to queer people can reshape a body, drawing on his experience of a minor stroke in 2019. He examines the psychic and somatic pressures that queer people face, which can decrease their quality of life and lead to shorter lifespans. The book is written in a queered diary form, fracturing the text to mirror his fractured sight post-stroke. It documents the complexities of critique and imagination while holding open a space for dreaming, pleasure, intimacy, and the unexpected.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 29 April 2024
Publisher: Fordham University Press

Jonathan Alexander, a queer person, had a minor stroke in the summer of 2019, which resulted in a permanent blindspot in his right eye. In his book "Stroke Book," Alexander recounts his experiences as a queer person subject to medical intervention, as well as the immediate aftermath of his health crisis, which marked deeper health concerns. He explores the pressure that queer people often feel at fault for their condition, of having chosen illness as punishment for their queerness. Queer people often experience psychic and somatic pressures that decrease their overall quality of life and can lead to shorter lifespans. "Stroke Book" invites readers on a personal journey of facing a health crisis while trying to understand how one's sexual identity affects and is affected by that crisis. Alexander's lyrical prose documents his ongoing, unfolding experience in the aftermath of the stroke, as he grapples with his shifted experience of time and weaves in and out of his fractured sight post-stroke. He also tracks the aftermath of what he comes to call his incident and meditates on how a history of homophobic encounters can manifest in embodied forms.

Weight: 240g
Dimension: 126 x 203 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781531507305