Queer Writings

are present in every literary culture, so let’s add new classics to our shelves! Feel free to send indications, submit quotes, or ask about any of the books mentioned in the blog! Just remember to always be thoughtful and cordial when interacting.

[globalqueertexts]

“Your own self, not the East Wind, is your undoing”

Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin

[globalqueertexts]

"Dream of the Red Chamber", ending poem

When grief for fiction’s idle words

More real than human life appears,

Reflect that life itself is a dream

And do not mock the reader’s tears.

Cao Xueqin, Nanjing, China - 1700s (English translation by David Hawkes, 1980)

[globalqueertexts]

“This isn’t Jerusha Abbott, the future great author, writing to you.

It’s just Judy - a girl”

Daddy-Long-Legs, Jean Webster, 1912

[fordarkmornings]

Tateishi Harumi  |  立石春美  -  Clover,  1934  (detail)

Japanese, 1906-1994

Ink on paper

[fordarkmornings]

Mizuno Toshikata  |  水野年方  -  Plum Blossom Viewing,  1898

Japanese, 1866-1908

Woodblock print

[fordarkmornings]

Tomioka Eisen  |  富岡永洗  -  Illustration for Kareno no Makuzu,  1897

Japanese, 1864-1905

Woodcut kuchi-e

[fordarkmornings]

Hasui Kawase  -  Benten Pond at Shiba,  1929 

Japanese, 1883-1957 

Woodblock print

[fordarkmornings]

Uemura Shōen  |  上村松園  -  「姉妹之図」  ‘Sisters’

Japanese, 1875-1949

Silk colouring

[fordarkmornings]

Uemura Shōen  -  Moonflowers (detail) 

Japanese, 1875-1949 

Ink on silk

[fordarkmornings]

Ito Shinsui  -  Girls Full of Dreams,  1952 

Japanese, 1898-1972 

Woodblock print

[fordarkmornings]

Suzuki Harunobu  -  Women Embracing in a Green House,  ca. 1765 

Japanese, 1724-1770 

Woodblock print

[globalqueertexts]

So it is that the sadness of those who love their own sex and therefore cannot live their lives in the form of a conventional marriage is redoubled by the chagrin of parents - for whom marriage represents the sole pinnacle of womanly achievement -and the opprobrium and scorn of everyone else.

Yoshiya Nobuko, "Yellow Rose", Flower Tales (花物語), 1923

[globalqueertexts]

"There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting"

L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908

[globalqueertexts]

"Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."

L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908

[globalqueertexts]

'Ah, but you are lustful!' said Disenchantment. 'In principle, of course, all lust is the same. But the word has many different meanings. For example, the typically lustful man in the common sense of the word is a man who likes a pretty face, who is fond of singing and dancing, who is inordinately given to flirtation; one who makes love in season and out of season, and who, if he could, would like to have every pretty girl in the world at his disposal, to gratify his desires whenever he felt like it. Such a person is a mere brute. His is a shallow, promiscuous kind of lust.

‘But your kind of lust is different. That blind, defenseless love with which nature has filled your being is what we call here “lust of the mind”. “Lust of the mind” cannot be ex­plained in words, nor, if it could, would you be able to grasp their meaning. Either you know what it means or you don’t.

‘Because of this “lust of the mind”, women will find you a kind and understanding friend; but in the eyes of the world I am afraid it is going to make you seem unpractical and eccentric. It is going to earn you the jeers of many and the angry looks of many more.'

Cao Xueqin, Dream of The Red Chambers, 1791

[miraitte]

Two girls learned the sweet taste of forbidden fruits—How can they go back to their old days?... They were wearing a beautiful pink veil called "secret." People say this secret veil was knitted with rays of midnight moon light by the hand of beautiful witches. The two girls protect and nurture this small and tasteful round world. Only these two girls know this secret world behind the veil. "we are... flowers in shade..." says Tamaki hesitantly, when Masuko puts her arm around Tamaki's shoulder... Masuko answers "Yes, we are shaded flowers... We only bloom under blue moon light..."

Yoshiya Nobuko, "Shaded Flowers", Flower Tales (Hanamonogatari)