Diversity or Perversity?: Queer Narratives, Resistance and Representation in New Zealand, 1948-2000 Book

'Diversity or Perversity?' contributes to the burgeoning field of the history of sexuality in New Zealand. It draws from a range of narratological materials ¿ parliamentary debates and novels and short stories written by men with publicly avowed queer identities. This book explores how both ¿normative¿ identity and the category of ¿the homosexual¿ were constructed and mobilised in the public domain. It shows that members of parliament have engaged with an extensive tradition of defining and excluding; a process by which state and public discourses have constructed largely negative narratives of ¿the homosexual¿. At the same time, fictional narratives offer an adjacent body of knowledge and thought for queer men. This book posits literature¿s position as an important and productive space for queer resistance and critique. Drawing from the works of a number of authors, 'Diversity or Perversity?' argues for a revaluing of fictional narratives as active texts from which historians can construct a matrix of cultural experience, while allowing for the determining role such narratives play in understanding gender and sexuality in New Zealand.Read More