LibGuides: Comparative Literature: Queer Theory

Databases & Collections

Queer theory has evolved over the last 35+ years to become one of the most significant theoretical scholarly approaches in a wide range of disciplines. The resources below are meant to be starting points and provide overviews. This page is, by no means, exhaustive or comprehensive, but rather intended to give you a place to begin your journey into queer theory.

Cambridge Companion to Literature Series
Cambridge University Press's long-standing series.
NOTE: Some titles are in print; others as ebooks.

Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new window
Broad, historical overview articles on key subject areas.
Updated regularly. Provides instant access to the renowned texts of the Cambridge Histories series. All the available volumes are grouped into broad topics for quick and easy browsing (see the list below), or the entire series can be searched using the basic or advanced search features. Specific histories consist of either one volume or a numered series and cover all major regions of the world (i.e. Cambridge History of Africa, Cambridge History of Latin America).
Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism This link opens in a new window
Search for in-depth summary articles on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.
Updated irregularly. Includes 241 alphabetically arranged entries on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. It also treats figures who did not explicitly deal with, but who still deeply affected, literature, literary theory, or literary criticism, as well as figures and kinds of inquiry from other fields that have been shaped by or have themselves shaped literary theory and criticism. Each entry includes a selective primary and secondary bibliography, and there are extensive cross references both within and at the conclusion of each entry. Chronological range extends from Plato and Aristotle to the present, with wide geographical and cultural coverage.
LGBTQ+ Life This link opens in a new window
Search a broad collection of scholarly journals, popular magazines, and other publications covering lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer identity, culture, and life.
This comprehensive database is the definitive index to the world's literature regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. LGBT Life contains indexing and abstracts for more than 250 LGBT-specific core periodicals as well as periodicals in Women’s and Gender Studies. It also contains more than 350 books and reference works.
LGBT Life provides comprehensive coverage of traditional academic, cultural, lifestyle and regional publications, including The Advocate, Lesbian News and Bay Windows. LGBT Life also provides indexing and abstracts for the full run of many historically significant titles such as ONE, The Ladder, Mattachine Review, Christopher Street and Body Politic. In addition, LGBT Life includes other source types such as monographs, reference books, newsletters, case studies and speeches. It also provides relevant bibliographic data from NISC's Sexual Diversity Studies.
Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
Provides detailed bibliographies of scholarly works (books, journal articles, etc.) on subject areas such as Literary & Critical Theory, Cinema and Media Studies, and Latin American Studies.
These Bibliographies provide an authoritative guide to the current scholarship, expert recommendations and authoritative commentary on the best works available in the discipline covered, making them particularly useful for anyone beginning research.
UT Austin has access to the all bibliographies in all subject areas.
Oxford Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
In-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field, covering subjects such as Literature and History.
The Oxford Handbooks contain in-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field. Each Handbook offers thorough introductions to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship, creating an original conception of the field and setting the agenda for new research. Handbook articles review the key issues and cutting-edge debates, as well as providing arguments for how those debates might evolve.
UT Austin currently has access to Handbooks in all available subject through 2021.

Books

Full Library Catalog Listing on Queer Theory
Books in the UT Libraries' catalog with the subject heading "Queer Theory."
NOTE: These books apply queer theory to a broad range of subject areas, including those beyond literary studies.

Feminist and Queer Theory by L. Ayu Saraswati; Barbara L. Shaw As women's studies departments and programs undergo rapid transformation in higher education, there has been a burgeoning demand for instructional material that addresses feminist and queer studies at all levels in the curricula. Feminist and Queer Theory: An Intersectional and Transnational Reader reflects this vibrantly expanding field and meets the urgent need for theory courses. Feminist and Queer Theory: An Intersectional and Transnational Reader is not simply a feminist theory text that includes queer theories; rather, it theorizes at the intersection of feminist and queer theories, and by doing so, transforms and reshapes the boundaries of the fields. The book invites students to think critically about the limitations of understanding feminist theory as separate, but tangentially related, to queer theory and moves them beyond transnationalism as "additive" to U.S.-centered intersectional perspectives. The book frames feminist and queer inquiry as being articulated through each other and within a global context. It also provide new voices--scholarly, activist, and creative--inside and outside the U.S. that are shaping the field and selections that highlight the importance of im/migration and borders as well as science, technology, and digital cultures.
Publication Date: 2020
The Ashgate Research Companion to Queer Theory by Noreen Giffney; Michael O'Rourke This Companion provides an interdisciplinary and international overview to the increasingly important field of queer studies. The team of respected and experienced scholars and activists foregrounds and promotes the many intersections of queer studies in an accessible, clear and engaging style which will be an indispensable tool for scholars and students alike.
Publication Date: 2009
The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature by E. L. McCallum (Editor); Mikko Tuhkanen (Editor) The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature presents a global history of the field and is an unprecedented summation of critical knowledge on gay and lesbian literature that also addresses the impact of gay and lesbian literature on cognate fields such as comparative literature and postcolonial studies. Covering subjects from Sappho and the Greeks to queer modernism, diasporic literatures, and responses to the AIDS crisis, this volume is grounded in current scholarship. It presents new critical approaches to gay and lesbian literature that will serve the needs of students and specialists alike. Written by leading scholars in the field, The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature will not only engage readers in contemporary debates but also serve as a definitive reference for gay and lesbian literature for years to come.
Publication Date: 2014