Reading Groups

Freaks of Nature: Queer Myth, Monsters, and Magic with Thomas Dooley

$120

4 Sessions via Zoom

Out of stock

4 Sessions Wednesdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 7:30 pm EDT September 30, 2020 to January 6, 2021

Meeting Dates:
9/30, 10/28, 12/2, 1/6

Queer individuals have often been recast as freaks, monsters, mutants, even ghosts who haunt society. But what if this othering was reclaimed by authors seeking to explore the mysterious, even magical ways their characters survive a world that aims to extinguish them? Aware of this tension, we will consider how the supernatural imagination can reshape how we interpret queer bodies within a hostile world.

We will explore the four novels: Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson (1998), Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (2017), Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (2018), and Orlando by Virginia Woolf (1928).

This group will take place online via Zoom. Participants will receive instructions for access prior to the first session.

Led by

Thomas Dooley

Thomas Dooley

Thomas Dooley is a poet who has taught creative writing and literature at New York University and Saint Peter’s University, respectively. As Artistic Director of Emotive Fruition, he has created and directed over thirty live literary events throughout New York City, bringing together hundreds of authors, performing artists, and audience members to engage with narrative poetry and storytelling. As a practitioner of medical humanities, Thomas is the Poet-in-Residences at New York Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center where he facilitates literature and writing workshops with clinical staff and narrative interventions at the bedsides of patients and caregivers. His debut collection, Trespass (Harper Perennial, 2014) was a winning selection by the National Poetry Series.

About this series

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