Join us for a talk by author, critic, and UC Irvine faculty member Jonathan Alexander on his most recent book, Damage: Notes on a Queer Aesthetic. Published by Fordham University Press, the work blends memoir and cultural criticism to explore queer pain and trauma, examining how artists like Catherine Opie and Hervé Guibert use bodily or personal “damage” as material for creation and connection. The talk will be followed by a brief segment for audience questions.
Biography
Jonathan Alexander is Chancellor’s Professor of English and gender and sexuality studies at UC Irvine, where he also currently serves as chair of the Department of English. The author and editor of numerous books, Alexander writes frequently about queer art, literature, and culture as well as contemporary practices of life writing. He is also an artist and memoirist, and the author of an award-winning series of memoirs known as The Creep Trilogy: Creep: A Life, a Theory, an Apology (Punctum Books, 2017), Bullied: The Story of an Abuse (Punctum Books, 2021), and Dear Queer Self: An Experiment in Memoir (Acre Books, 2022).