LGBTQ+ IDENTITY AND DISPLACEMENT IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FICTION: A STUDY OF OCEAN VUONG'S ON EARTH WE'RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS AND CARMEN MARIA MACHADO'S HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES

Abstract

This paper discusses the complex correlation of LGBTQ + identity construction and displacement experiences in modern American literature by comparing and contrasting the works On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (2019) and Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (2017). With references to the theory of queer theory and postcolonial, especially the theory of gender performativity developed by Judith Butler, the study examines how both writers address the challenges of queer identity in the realms of geographical, cultural, and mental displacement. The discussion shows that the phenomenon of displacement is not only a condition but also a constituent part of the process of creating queer subjects, in which the subjective sense of being out of place has become inherently connected with the act of asserting a queer identity. This paper, through close textual analysis, will show how Vuong and Machado use innovative textual techniques such as fragmented narration techniques, epistolary type and genre-blending techniques by which they can reflect the multiplicities of displacement experienced by LGBTQ+ people. As the findings indicate, modern American fiction is more inclined to place displacement as the location of trauma and the location of creative resource to re-think queer futurity. This study is part of the current academic debates regarding the overlaps of sexuality, migration, memory and narrative novelty in the American literature of the twenty-first century.