Queer Defamiliarisation

A new theory of defamiliarisation as a process of queering, and of queering as a process of defamiliarisation

Helen Palmer examines the Russian formalist concept of defamiliarisation, or making-strange, from a contemporary critical perspective, bringing together new materialist feminisms, experimental linguistic formalism and queer theory.

She explores how we might radically restructure this gesture of making-strange to create a dialogue with the affirmations of deviant, errant, alternative and multiple modes of being which have become synonymous with queer theory.

Queer theory affirms multiple dimensions of sexuality and gender, while defamiliarisation celebrates shifts in perception. Palmer explores these processes from a number of literary and philosophical angles, concluding with a creative epilogue written in the voices of women throughout history.

Helen Palmer is Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing, Kingston University, London.