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Emma Young

Abstract

This article considers contemporary novelist Emma Donoghue’s early novels, Stir-Fry (1994) and Hood (1995), and argues that these works contribute to a re-defining of the home space in relation to lesbian sexuality. I draw on theoretical arguments from the social sciences, feminist, gender and sexuality studies, and literary criticism to reveal how an inter-disciplinary approach to Donoghue’s novels illuminates a more nuanced interpretation of their depiction of home space that ensures a ‘home’ for lesbianism is (re)located. At the same time, Donoghue’s novels are revealed to posit their own theorising on home and sexuality. By focusing on objects—including the infamous queer closet, the threshold space of doors and the ‘woman’s’ kitchen—alongside depictions of lesbian relationships, this article interrogates the ways in which home spaces are (re)encoded, resulting in the naturalised heteronormativity of the home space being challenged.

Author Biography

Emma Young is a Ph.D. candidate in the field of contemporary women's writing based in the School of Humanities at the University of Lincoln. I would like to extend my gratitude and acknowledge Lucie Armitt and Claire O’Callaghan for their insightful comments on this article prior to its publication here.

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