Behind the green door: a story about suffering and hybrid identity in the 1950s and 1960s
Article
Article Title | Behind the green door: a story about suffering and hybrid identity in the 1950s and 1960s |
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ERA Journal ID | 35836 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | |
Author | Sulway, Nike |
Journal Title | TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses |
Journal Citation | 19 (Special Issue 31), pp. 1-14 |
Number of Pages | 14 |
Year | 2015 |
Publisher | Australasian Association of Writing Programs |
Place of Publication | Australia |
ISSN | 1327-9556 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.52086/001c.27165 |
Web Address (URL) | http://www.textjournal.com.au/speciss/issue31/Sulway.pdf |
Abstract | This paper provides explores the life and work of Elsie Ruth (Lyn) Palmer (1934-1969), an unpublished writer from Melbourne whose experiences as a lesbian writer during the 1950s form a framework for exploring a range of issues around failure, queer identity, and literary endeavour. By examining Palmer’s life and work in the broader context of her times, the paper argues for a re-examination of the current fashion for celebrating or embracing failure, connecting this rhetorical pressure to ‘embrace failure’ with an outdated Romantic notion of the suffering artist, and with suffering as a pre-condition for artistic excellence. The paper explores the ways in which this problematic fetishising of failure ignores the influence and impact of class, gender and sexual identity in the structure of suffering, and its resolution. |
Keywords | creative writing; queer writing; lesbian; failure; suffering; 1950s |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 360201. Creative writing (incl. scriptwriting) |
Public Notes | File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author. |
Byline Affiliations | School of Arts and Communication |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q323y/behind-the-green-door-a-story-about-suffering-and-hybrid-identity-in-the-1950s-and-1960s
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