Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Queer American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Queer American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Synchronic Histories of American Sexuality
- The Sexuality of American History
- 1 Trans/Atlantic Origin Stories
- 2 Queering the Founding; Or, the Revolution in Sex
- 3 Whither the Queer History of Slavery?
- 4 Queering Immigration and the Social Body, 1875–1924
- 5 The Queerness of World War II
- 6 Queer Bonds of Cold War Sexuality
- 7 “The Dead Never Die”
- 8 Fiction in the Post–Lawrence v. Texas Era, or Inventing Heteronormative Queerness
- Queer Literary Movements
- Part II Diachronic Histories of American Sexuality
- Part III Queer Methods
- Index
2 - Queering the Founding; Or, the Revolution in Sex
from The Sexuality of American History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 May 2024
- The Cambridge History of Queer American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Queer American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Synchronic Histories of American Sexuality
- The Sexuality of American History
- 1 Trans/Atlantic Origin Stories
- 2 Queering the Founding; Or, the Revolution in Sex
- 3 Whither the Queer History of Slavery?
- 4 Queering Immigration and the Social Body, 1875–1924
- 5 The Queerness of World War II
- 6 Queer Bonds of Cold War Sexuality
- 7 “The Dead Never Die”
- 8 Fiction in the Post–Lawrence v. Texas Era, or Inventing Heteronormative Queerness
- Queer Literary Movements
- Part II Diachronic Histories of American Sexuality
- Part III Queer Methods
- Index
Summary
In 2015, a robust strain of slash fiction began to explore the nature of the intimacy shared between aides-de-camp Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens during the American Revolution. Comparing this vast body of writing to popular genres of eighteenth-century fiction, this chapter frames the phenomenon known as "Historical Lams" (Lams being a portmanteau formed by fusing the first syllables of each surname) as the great queer epistolary novel that got away. More precisely, I examine how literary fandom surrounding the Hamilton-Laurens bond ultimately theorizes the cultural function of fiction through eighteenth-century discourses integral to the rise of the novel. I conclude by arguing that this literature offers a valuable framework for reconsidering the world-building potential of reception in the making of queer pasts.
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- The Cambridge History of Queer American Literature , pp. 55 - 71Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024