Robinson, Jones FULL_DRAFT[7]BJ_LR_NB_BJ_21.04.17.pdf (366.57 kB)
Queering the grammar school boy: class, sexuality and authenticity in the works of Colin MacInnes and Ray Gosling
In 1959 Colin MacInnes published the fourth in his series of social issue novels, Absolute Beginners. In it the unnamed protagonist is constructed as the iconic teenager, slick, cool, creative, with his ex-lover Crépe Suzette as the object of his art and as his Achilles heel. The novel is framed over one summer, against a backdrop of racial tension, which ultimately led the Boy towards adulthood. MacInnes’s protagonist has been dismissed as an emblem rather than a character, and MacInnes himself derided by George Melly as a perpetual teenager. However in this chapter, we will suggest that taken as a whole MacInnes’ work constructs a complex understanding of The Boy’s political possibilities intersecting with sexuality, gender, race and class. By integrating his novelistic work with his journalistic and activist writing, we will demonstrate the complexity of MacInnes’ Boy as an autonomous, queer political agent, embodied in the ultimate Boy; Ray Gosling. Gosling’s own writing becomes a lens through which to root historical understanding of teenagers and teenage cultures as sexual and racial constructs.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Publisher
Palgrave MacmillanPage range
23-40Pages
292.0Book title
Youth subcultures in fiction, film and other media: teenage dreamsPlace of publication
BasingstokeISBN
978-3319731889Series
Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular MusicDepartment affiliated with
- History Publications
Research groups affiliated with
- Centre for the Study of Sexual Dissidence Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Editors
Beth Johnson, Andrzej Zieleniec, Nick BentleyLegacy Posted Date
2016-11-01First Open Access (FOA) Date
2019-07-10First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-04-21Usage metrics
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