Dissolution and apotheosis of the queer body in The Lazarus Heart, by the trans author Poppy Z. Brite

Abstract

ABSTRACT In The Lazarus Heart, the trans author Poppy Z. Brite sets a brutal anatomy of gender and sexuality, and examines the violence and abjection frequently imposed on queer subjects, especially on trans people. Body, gender, and sexuality occupy a central role in the novel, which allows Brite’s work to be read as queer Gothic, a type of fiction understood as an interstice between Gothic studies and queer studies. Berenice Bento states that transsexual bodies are fabrications engendered by particular technologies, and Butler defines gender as performance; these are the central issues to the analysis I propose here. My main goal is to discuss the thematic development towards the body. I pay particular attention to the violence inflicted upon, as well as the restoration of the body, also observing the character development of Lucrece.