They met them: gender identity development and the naturalization of queer desire in Ali Smith’s Girl Meets Boy ​

Abstract

This dissertation aims to evaluate why Scottish author Ali Smith's novel Girl Meets Boy (2007) creates a rich and valid site from which to explore the myriad of complex emotions that encompass the broad spectrum of queerness, as well as how these emotions affirm one’s quest for queer and gender identity, help define their purpose in society, and positively impact Smith’s [queer] readership, who in turn, is invited to reflect upon complex human experiences and reassess the way they perceive both fictional and literal [queer] worlds. This work begins as I trace the trajectory of gay rights in the United Kingdom, and illustrate how it contributed to the advancement of rights for the entire LGBTQIA+ community across Britain, especially in Scotland, to the point where lesbian feminists decided to prioritise the fight for women’s rights over the gay liberation between the 1970s and 1990s. Such action, provided the fertile ground whereby the first stories written by Scottish lesbian authors would flourish, paving the way for authors like Smith to narrate her queer stories. Additionally, I analyse the intertextual techniques used by Smith to write her novel, a reimagined version of Ovid's epic tale of Iphis and Ianthe, as I demonstrate how Smith has been able to explore and expand gender notions previously addressed by Ovid in his metamorphic poem, giving them a new lease of life. The study concludes with my analysis of Smith’s Girl Meets Boy in relation to feminist and queer theories and perspectives on sex and gender, as I elucidate how Smith’s characters are able to subvert and break ties with the dichotomous framework of gender and sexuality and highlight how the creation of queer utopias can take both her fictional characters and her readership to see beyond the limitations of the present.