Damien Barlow Damien Barlow i(A22064 works by)
Born: Established: 1973 Wodonga, Wodonga area, North East Victoria, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 'The Sex Thing Is Strange' : The Queerness of Barbara Hanrahan’s Fiction Damien Barlow , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Claiming Space for Australian Women's Writing 2017; (p. 227-241)

'This chapter explores Barbara Hanrahan’s notion that sexuality “can manifest itself in all sorts of ways” disrupts the naturalised binary logic that governs cultural intelligibility about what constitutes “real” sex and what remains unimaginable and unspeakable. It also highlights a preoccupation in her writing with non-normative sexual desires and identities that is akin to the critical concerns of queer epistemologies. The chapter takes Hanrahan’s contestation of normative thinking about sexuality as a starting point to critically examine the queerness of her “fantastic novels”. By reading Hanrahan’s fiction queerly we are offered a valuable critique that challenges the normalising power of heterosexuality and its claims to be the only intelligible and “natural” way to organise desire.'

Source: Abstract.
1 ‘Rupture and Rapture All at Once’ : Queer Australian Fiction 2000-2014 Damien Barlow , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Special Issue Website Series , October no. 31 2015; 'This article provides a critical survey of queer Australian fiction spanning fifteen years from 2000 to 2014. Forty works of fiction in the forms of novels and short story collections are discussed. The survey is organised by a series of modes that I argue are prevalent within queer Australian fiction: contemporary realism, surrealism, historical novels and cosmopolitanism.' (Publication abstract)
1 'As If My Bones Had Been Changed into Clouds': Queer Epiphanies in David Malouf's Fiction Damien Barlow , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 2 2014; 'From his earliest work to his most recent, David Malouf’s oeuvre has consistently employed epiphanies to the point where such moments of heightened sensation, personal enlightenment or deep realisation and wonderment have become a defining hallmark of his writing. Focusing on Malouf’s early novel 'Johnno' and his short fiction ‘Closer’ and ‘Southern Skies’ this paper critically examines his use of epiphanies from a queer theoretical framework.' (Publication abstract)
1 Colonial Dickens : What Australians Made of the World’s Favourite Writer, by Kylie Mirmohamadi and Susan K. Martin Damien Barlow , 2013 single work
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 13 no. 3 2013;
— Review of Colonial Dickens : What Australians Made of the World's Favourite Author Kylie Mirmohamadi , Susan K. Martin , 2012 single work criticism
1 Porno-Politics : Frank Moorhouse's The Americans, Baby Damien Barlow , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 308-314)
1 Interspecies Mateship : Tom Collins and Pup Damien Barlow , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 13 no. 1 2013;

'This essay examines the representation of dogs, especially Pup in the novels of Joseph Furphy.' (Author's abstract)
1 'Did He Want to Mix and Mate with this Man?' : Mateship, Modernism and Homoerotic Primitivism Damien Barlow , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 27 no. 1 2012; (p. 18-32)
1 The Queerness of Jessica Anderson's Fiction Damien Barlow , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 72 no. 1 2012; (p. 136-152) 'Gay men have a significant presence in Jessica Anderson's novels. From the first, An Ordinary Lunacy (1963), to her final work One of the Wattlebirds (1994), gay men appear as friends, assistants, confidants, "comrades", family members and in one instance as a fiance, of her central women characters. An Ordinary Lunacy presents arguably the first modern gay man in Australian literature, while Taking Shelter (1989), Anderson's most sexually ambiguous work, is the first Australian novel to concern itself with HIV/AIDS. In the award-winning and best-selling Tirra Lirra by the River (1978) gay men play pivotal roles. Unlike some of Anderson's contemporaries whose queerness has been explored by literary scholars - such as Patrick White or David Malouf - the rich array of queer representations in Anderson's oeuvre has been largely ignored. In light of this critical neglect this essay examines Anderson's representations of gay men and more generally non-normative sexualities. In particular, I argue that the queerness of Anderson's fiction offers the reader a nuanced and astute critique of the ways in which heterosexuality is privileged, fashioned and maintained as "natural" within late-twentieth-century Australian culture.' (Author's abstract)
1 [Review] Messengers of Eros : Representations of Sex in Australian Writing Damien Barlow , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 11 no. 2 2011;
— Review of Messengers of Eros : Representations of Sex in Australian Writing Xavier Pons , 2009 single work criticism
1 y separately published work icon Australian Literary Studies ALS vol. 25 no. 1 May Damien Barlow (editor), Leigh Dale (editor), 2010 Z1720983 2010 periodical issue
1 Antipodean Inversions : Queer Australian Writing Damien Barlow , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Down Under : Australian Literary Studies Reader 2009; (p. 473-482) The article provides 'an overview of contemporary Australian writing, primarily fiction, that to varying degrees is critically informed by the development of queer theory in the late 1980s, early 1990s and beyond. The first section briefly explores some key tenets of queer theorising. This is followed by a focus on four queer writers who have achieved differing levels of cultural prominence in Australia .... The final section examines a wider range of queer Australian writers and writing and is structured around some central tropes, namely, sexual fluidity, postcoloniality and homophobic violence' (473).
1 Untitled Damien Barlow , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 7 no. 2007; (p. 135-138)
— Review of Robbery Under Arms : A Story of Life and Adventure in the Bush and in the Goldfields of Australia Rolf Boldrewood , 1882 single work novel
1 Australian Gay and Lesbian Writing Damien Barlow , Leigh Dale , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: A Companion to Australian Literature Since 1900 2007; (p. 445-458) Dale and Barlow trace the repositioning of homosexuality in Australian literature from the critical erasure of homoerotic content in the work of Miles Franklin to David Malouf's "problematical relationship with the canon" (p.454) due to queer readings of his work.
1 'Oh, You're Cutting My Bowels Out!' : Sexual Unspeakability in Marcus Clarke's His Natural Life Damien Barlow , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 6 no. 1 2007; (p. 33-48) 'This article provides a queer reading of Marcus Clarke's His Natural Life that pays particular attention to Clarke's thematic of sexual unspeakability. More specifically, it revisits the infamous fate of the young convict Kirkland in order to explore the perverse dynamics of the homosocial romance between Clarke's gentleman hero Rufus Dawes, and perhaps Clarke's most enigmatic and queer creation, the prison priest Reverend James North.' (JASAL abstract)
1 Temper Erotic, Bias Westralian Damien Barlow , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 186 2007; (p. 81-82)
— Review of Shadow Thief Marion Campbell , 2006 single work novel
1 Un/making Sexuality: Such Is Life and the Observant Queer Reader Damien Barlow , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 21 no. 2 2003; (p. 166-177)

'I want to propose that the incertitudes of Furphy's magnum opus provide the observant queer reader with an arousing focus on the late-nineteenth-century making of "sexuality" as a new regulatory system of sexual organisation. In advocating an engagement between Such is Life and queer theory, I want to ask, how does Furphy represent sexuality in Such is Life? and what is the analytical purchase provided by a queer reading of the text?'
1 Porn Kiddie Damien Barlow , 1999 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 155 1999; (p. 107-108)
— Review of Glove Puppet Neal Drinnan , 1998 single work novel
2 Authenticity/Hybridity and Pallawah Identities in Castro's Drift Damien Barlow , 1998 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , Winter vol. 58 no. 2 1998; (p. 59-66) Barlow argues that Castro constructs a complex representation of "hybridity" that is inextricably tied to genocidal settler/invader colonial epistemologies and practices.
Source: Southerly
1 A High Index of Suspicion Damien Barlow , 1998 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 151 1998; (p. 68-69)
1 Queer Gothic Damien Barlow , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 148 1997; (p. 85-86)
— Review of Immortality Kirsty Machon , 1996 selected work short story
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