聚焦二十世紀末至二十一世紀初回應愛滋危機的美國文學，探討悲傷如何在文本中被書寫、處理，並進一步形塑性別與性向認同。作者以佛洛伊德精神分析為理論基礎，細讀多部關鍵作品，分析「哀悼」與「憂鬱」如何成為理解文本秩序與斷裂的關鍵。書中討論Edmund White、Michael Cunningham、Eve Sedgwick等作者的作品，並延伸至ACT UP Oral History Project的口述歷史檔案，呈現同志書寫與後現代詩學之間的交織。本書指出，文本不僅反映身分，也參與身分的生成與鞏固，對同志文學研究、酷兒理論與愛滋再現提供重要觀點。This book discusses the significance of late twentieth century and early twenty first century American fiction written in response to the AIDS crisis and interrogates how sexual identity is depicted and constructed textually. Pearl develops Freudian psychoanalytic theory in a complex account of the ways in which grief is expressed and worked out in literature, showing how key texts from the AIDS crisis by authors such as Edmund White, Michael Cunningham, Eve Sedgwick – and also, later, the archives of The ACT UP Oral History Project - lie both within the tradition of gay writing and a postmodernist poetics. The book demonstrates how literary texts both expose and construct personal identity, how they expose and produc
