부산대학교 도서관

"The Queer Art of Autofabulation: Giving a Radical Account of Oneself After HIV/AIDS" traces the development of autobiographical practices as strategies of resistance in art, writing and theory from the 1980s onwards. It argues that the onset of the AIDS epidemic has caused an epistemological crisis of queer selfhood which is better understood through the concept of "queer autofabulation" - a term I use to refer to the practices and techniques of the self which challenge dominant and pathologizing discourses. The corpus of this thesis covers works by the French writer and photographer Hervé Guibert (1955-1991), the American artist and activist Gregg Bordowitz (1964-), and the Spanish-born, Paris-based writer and trans-feminist philosopher Paul B. Preciado (1970-). Drawing on Franco-American intellectual history - specifically the interrelation between poststructuralism and queer theory - this thesis situates autobiographical theory and practices at the heart of Western queer thought. Notably, it situates the concept of autofabulation as a critical and intermedial alternative to the literary genre of autofiction. Through this framework, this thesis explores the formation of queer subjectivity in relation to mainstream media, medical discourses and psychoanalysis. By proposing a new and interdisciplinary conceptualization of queer autobiographical practices, this thesis makes an original contribution to current scholarship in gender and sexuality studies, comparative literature, and visual culture. Furthermore, it offers an original transatlantic mapping of thinkers and practitioners which illustrates the significance of Franco-American intellectual history in the formation of queer thought.