Reading Sideways: Queer and Asian Diasporic Approaches to Regency Novels & Adaptation

Lillian Lu
Literature
UC San Diego

This monograph reads long eighteenth-century texts alongside their contemporary adaptations by Asian diasporic creators to theorize what the author calls sideways reading, which describes a queer and Asian diasporic affect, reading practice, and positionality in relation to works of the British canon. The monograph posits sideways reading as a tool for analyzing adaptation work and diasporic creative (literary, filmic, stage) responses to British imperial culture and canon; for understanding reader responses to source material and adaptation; and for describing queer/diasporic relationality to academic work. By using sideways reading, the author demonstrates its use in better elucidating both the source material in its context, and queer and Asian media now. Reading Sideways may be of interest to long eighteenth century and Regency scholars, fan scholars, and those in adaptation studies, Asian American studies, as well as queer studies.