ENGL 052M. Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City and Queer Pasts and Futures

28 Barbary Lane: the boarding house at a mythical address in San Francisco run by Anna Madrigal, the most beloved trans character in U.S. literature. It’s where those who are queer, straight, trans, and questioning find their logical or chosen family, the home where they are seen and to which they can always return. We’ll read several of Maupin’s novels from his Tales of the Cities series (1970s - 2014), including Michael Tolliver Lives, plus we will view and debate the most recent TV adaptation of Tales (HBO 2019). Also explored will be secondary sources by queer and other theorists of sexuality and sociality, including Butler, Sedgwick, Muñoz, Lorde, Halberstam, McCauley, Braidotti, and Love.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Eligible for GSST.
Fall 2025. Schmidt.
Catalog chapter: English Literature
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/english-literature

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