Presented as part of the Literary Studies Seminar Series.

This paper examines how we can understand the relationship between affect, memory, and sexuality in Australian AIDS life writing, namely Eric Michaels’ posthumously published memoir Unbecoming (1990). This research reflects my interest in thinking about sexuality as an assemblage of affective memory, which suggests that memory is a dynamic and embodied process, rather than an effect of representation. I argue that sexuality is an event that requires us, as readers, to find new ways of engaging with life narratives. Drawing on the work of Deleuze and Heather Love, I propose a queer-Deleuzian method of reading that is sensitive to the emergence of sexuality and the circulation of affects that produce its iterations. I will discuss the connections between these potentially contentious approaches and, ultimately argue for the productivity of this tension through a descriptive reading of Michaels’ memoir.

This seminar will be presented by Jonathon Zapasnik, PhD Candidate and Sessional Lecturer in Gender Studies at ANU.

Students, staff, visitors and friends - all are welcome to attend!

Image above: "Break" (1992) by Hugh Steers