Non-Binary Narration

The Potential of Point of View in Young Adult Novels with Genderqueer Characters

Abstract

Narratologist Susan S. Lanser argues ‘that questions of representation, and especially of queer representation, are as much questions of form as of content’ (2015, p. 24). As marginalised identities, such as those under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, are increasingly represented in fiction for young audiences, the creative methods authors use to construct these representations warrant investigation. In this article, I examine how non-binary gender identity is depicted in a corpus of contemporary young adult (YA) novels, and how the authors of these texts use narrative voice and point of view (POV) to construct, confirm, and validate their characters’ non-binary identifications. First, I discuss the YA staple of first-person perspective and how this narration technique overlaps with Talia Bettcher’s concept of ‘first-person authority’ (2009). Second, I turn to the less-common close third-person narration, and what visible pronouns and names may offer to a narrative of gender affirmation. Third, and finally, I discuss the underexplored realm of omniscient third-person narration and its potential to affirm queer gender by using the mythic ‘voice of god’ (Fludernik 2009). These different voice techniques create different narrative effects and offer their own risks and benefits, making narration a valuable site for exploring the varied, evolving ways that queer gender identity is constructed in the storyworlds of contemporary YA.