Theses and Dissertations
Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
English
Committee Chair
Laura Vrana, Ph.D.
Abstract
This project examines Nella Larsen’s Passing and Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse together as queer artifacts in hopes of shedding new light on how race and sexuality can be reexamined across national modes of thinking. Although these writers’ backgrounds provide them with different bodies of knowledge, Larsen’s Irene and Woolf’s Lily have much more in common than might first appear. For one, even if racialization is more explicit—and presents more of an obstacle—for Irene, race is an important factor for both characters. Additionally, Irene and Lily both express profound discontent with marriage, Irene in her marriage to Brian and Lily against Mrs. Ramsay’s insistence that she marry. In their unhappiness, however, they look toward hopeful queer futures in which they need not be sexual beings, thereby opening a window for the recent sociological field of asexuality studies. Seeking to raise awareness and encourage acceptance of asexuality as a sexual identity, asexuality studies asks us to rethink our understandings of sexuality and expand the existing body of queer studies. My goal with this project is twofold: to promote more inclusions into the field of queer studies, such as asexuality studies and considerations of race, and to revisit works of twentieth-century literature in hopes of generating a new conversation around their contemporary relevance.
Recommended Citation
Buckner, Jeremy, "Queer Hope and Asexual desire in Nella Larsen's Passing and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 215.
https://jagworks.southalabama.edu/theses_diss/215
Included in
American Literature Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Nonfiction Commons, Other American Studies Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Queer Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons