On the Queer Rhetoric of Metalepsis
On the Queer Rhetoric of Metalepsis

Summary/Abstract: This article critically reviews the concept of metalepsis, introduced by Gérard Genette to designate the transgression of the border between distinct narrative levels, from the perspective of a postclassical, queer narratology. Emanating from the transmedial adaptation and application of the phenomenon, the article first suggests a complementary definition of metalepsis as displacement, before theorising metalepsis as a queer signifying practice. Looking at the relationship between metalepsis, mimesis and heteronormativity, the article proposes that metaleptic occurrences constitute an exceedance of the compulsory form of narrative, which is based on linearity and heteroreference, and thus questions, clashes with, if not undermines, normative conceptualizations of narrative.

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