ESZTER TIMAR

Postdoctoral Fellow

Education:

Ph.D., Comparative Literature, Emory University, 2009

MA, Comparative Literature, Emory University, 2002

MA, Gender and Culture, Central European University, 1999

MA, English Literature and Linguistics. ELTE University 1998

Research Areas and Interests:

My research areas are queer theory, sexuality, political philosophy, literary theory, deconstruction. I am particularly (or also) interested in questions concerning
Sexuality and political philosophy (and social thought)
Performativity, its intersection with gender, sexuality and the philosophy of rights,
Theorizing masculinity,
Psychoanalysis
I have supervised MA theses on the politics of queer theory, queer literary and visual texts, psychoanalysis and rave culture, performance art, women’s literature, among other diverse topics.

Current Research Projects:

I am currently writing an article to suggest that current Hungarian homophobia, structured in xenophobic terms, and the relative lack of a successful LGBT discourse advocating coming out are rooted in early and mid-19th century liberal discourses on nationalism and citizenship. I am also finalizing another article in which I will return to an earlier literary debate on “outing” canonized literary text to in order to argue, based on a reading of Benjamin Constant’s Adolphe that the queerness such practices might reveal may be traced back to an internal conflict within 18-19th century republican and liberal fables and figures of citizenship. I am also working on a book project based on my dissertation. In Queer Democracy: Performativity, Sexuality, Politics (working title), I focus on several conceptual presuppositions of modern Revolutionary citizenship and argue that a multifaceted and fundamental structural link connects the figure of the citizen and the modern figure of the (male) homosexual. The chapters will offer ways of tracing this structural similarity around notions of democratic transparency and the public sphere. The argument is based on a series of readings of 18th and 19th century texts from philosophy and literature in the light of contemporary theories of tropes of revolutionary citizenship, inauthenticity and fraternity in queer theory and deconstructive philosophy as well as social histories of the modern public sphere and masculinity.

Recent Course Offerings:

Introduction to Queer Theory 4 credits
Queer Theory, Queer Politics 2 credits

Queer Democracy: Performativity, Sexuality, Politics - 2 credits Introduction to Queer Theory - 4 credits