Wishing for political dominance: representations of history and community in queer theory

Thomas Piontek contends that \u27for many people their sense of being gay relies intensely on literary representations\u27 (137). Though his argument refers mainly to fiction, in this essay I want to extend Piontek\u27s contention and suggest that one\u27s sense of one\u27s self and one\u27s sexuality may also have a close relationship to non-fiction texts about gay and lesbian cultures. Indeed, Michael Hurley points out that in the nineteen seventies \u27The dominant genre of lesbian and gay writing was non-fiction\u27 (\u27Introduction\u27 19). Among the most important texts about lesbian and gay cultures in contemporary Australia is Annamarie Jagose\u27s Queer Theory (1996). The popularity and authority of this book in contemporary literary and cultural studies, as well as among gay and lesbian readers, make it an object of significance for Australian literary studies