The Queerness of Water

Jeremy Chow is Assistant Professor of English at Bucknell University.

Introduction: What's Queer about Water? 1. Taken by Storm Intermezzo: Teaching Wreckage in Rising Waters 2. See Monkeys Intermezzo: Reading Swift on the Planet of the Apes 3. Aqueous Punishment Intermezzo: Off with Her Head 4. Sacrif-Ice Intermezzo: Freeze! Conclusion: Sea Monsters

"Clearly and energetically written, Chow makes a valuable and important contribution to blue humanities criticism in the context of eighteenth-century English literary studies. The Queerness of Water moves beyond salt water to river banks, water torture, and ice-scapes, to show how a 'beyond the oceans' approach can renovate blue thinking in the eco-humanities. It builds on existing queer ecostudies by connecting contemporary theorists to historical English literature and by making queer studies more watery and watery studies more queer." - Steven Mentz, St. John's University, author of Ocean (Object Lessons) "Chow makes an original and substantial contribution to at least three fields: 18th-century literary studies, ecocriticism and the environmental humanities, and queer studies. Such a multi-pronged contribution is rare and important. Queerness also features many excellent close readings, including of authors--such as Jonathan Swift--who have rarely been read through a queer lens." - Nicole Seymour, California State University, Fullerton, author of Bad Environmentalism: Irony and Irreverence in the Ecological Age