The Last Thesis

This is the last one and it's a bittersweet feeling. Part of me is sad that this is the last essay, but part of me is also glad that I am almost done.

To be fair, I am not sure how to go about writing this thesis. I am confused as to where to start; in other words, I have no idea how to narrow down the topic. To remedy this, I guess I'll just reason my way to a provisional thesis and project narrative.

The one thing that is set in stone so far is the zine that I am using: Out of the Closets, and Into the Libraries. Since this essay is supposed to focus on the "stylistic conventions" and "characteristics of 'queer writing'," I know I will have to discuss the way my zine is compiled. So let's begin with that.

Out of the Closets, and Into the Libraries is a compilation of historical accounts. These 'accounts' include historical nonfiction descriptions, timelines, propaganda, personal introductions, and personal accounts of events. Because of this, I am looking for theory sources that focus on those types of writing and how they bolster the queer purpose.

Moreover, the purpose of the zine is to show how differences in queer movements have to be recognized in order obtain a full, connected queer liberation. In other words, not every queer movement is the same; almost each and every one is different in some manner or another.

Thus, I want to combine the way the zine is written with the way it strives to fulfill its purpose: how do the different works of writing compiled in the zine convey the differences of queer movements, and how does that in return allow for a more complete queer liberation?

My answer to that is the following provisional thesis:

Although just a collection of others' writing, Conrad's Out of the Closets, and Into the Libraries compiles different stylistic accounts of queer movements to highlight the differences between those historical events which in turn displays a more united queer frontier.

My essay will be simple to follow:

I want to start by describing the several techniques of writing that are used in the zine, specifically personal accounts and propaganda (but I will touch on the other ones to). The sources involved in this section will be writing theory sources. For example, Pop Goes The Queerness focuses on queerness becoming more prevalent in media, and I can relate that back to both propaganda and zines in general. Furthermore, Listening to Queer Maps of the City shows how personal accounts of queer helps strengthen what 'queer' actually is.

The next section will focus on how those different types of writing relate back to what we have already read in class. For example, for personal accounts of queerness, I can focus on the essays by Sedgwick and Lorde. Moreover, for propaganda, I can literally look at almost anything we have read since propaganda is always interspersed through writing. Also in this section, I want to focus on the substance of my zine and how it relates to what else we have read. For instance, I want to focus on how people view queer differently, and this relates well to Angels in America with how Roy sees queer differently. I am still looking for good sources for this section.

My last section will simply tie everything back together to answer the final question of how this create a more united queer frontier. Hopefully after I create my source map everything will begin to click, but for now I still have a lot to think about it. I'll be looking for more sources in the mean time, so bare with me.

Thanks for your time, and please comment!


--
Farhan Khan