"En kold og bitter affære": Negative intimiteter i Tomas Lagermand Lundmes Forhud
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In this article, I analyze and discuss the potentials of what I call negative intimacies in Tomas Lagermand Lundmes debut novel Forhud (1998) through the lens of antisocial queer theory. Through Berlants concept of intimacy as inherently threatened by an internal failure, I identify three types of negative intimacies in the novel: 1) Incestuous intimacy, in which the narrator denies the incest taboo and the Oedipus complex as foundation of heteronormative sociality through a perversion of the father figure. 2) Masochistic intimacy, in which the symbolic function of the father as authority is negated through contractual submission. And, lastly, 3) impersonal intimacy, which I argue is the overall mode of intimacy that the novel explores both in its content and as a gesture toward its reader. Impersonal intimacy offers an ethical alternative to heteronormative identity- and relation-based intimacy. In the impersonal intimacy I find what Tim Dean has called an “ethics of alterity”, that is, a radical openness to otherness. In Forhud only strangers can be lovers, which is precisely the queer potential of the novel. I argue that these queer intimacies do not lend themselves to any kind of positive promise of a queer world, but rather a negative critique of heteronormative sexuality. Though Forhud does not express any optimistic hope for another world, it nevertheless stresses the pleasure of being intimate with the stranger.
Translated title of the contribution | "A cold and bitter affair": Negative Intimacies in Tomas Lagermand Lundmes Forhud |
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Original language | Danish |
Journal | K & K |
Volume | 51 |
Issue number | 136 |
Pages (from-to) | 105-128 |
ISSN | 0905-6998 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 30 Jan 2024 |
ID: 359794836