Phase 2: Rhetorical Analysis

A History of LGBTQ+ Literature is a Penguin House article that is both a historically informative article and a book review at once. The author, Stephen Carlick is an editor for Penguin House, who enjoys modernist literature. He explains that the times in which a story is written heavily influences it; that is to say, stories tend to reflect the moment. LGBTQ+ writers have written a variety of books with queer characters in them, but have “often, but not always, been marginalised” (Carlick). In A History of LGBTQ+ Literature, Carlick presents a brief overview of certain time periods and queer works during those times; Carlick’s phrasing and explanation of certain books and events during these times draws the reader in without making it a heavy, condensed article.

Carlick brings to awareness Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles, a queer retelling of The Illiad that brings to the foreground Patroclus and Achille’s romantic relationship, and proceeds to explain the history of homosexual relationships in Ancient Greece. He uses pathos to evoke a feeling of kindness for Ancient Greek romance; “Homosexual romance, in Greek culture, was worthy of veneration” (Carlick). The phrasing used evokes a sense of connectedness across times and culture. Carlick continues to use pathos throughout the article, with words such as: passionate, unshakeable, and “backdrop of a hostile world” to paint a feeling of longing for queer authors. The article is ripe with examples of queer fiction, and are all organized chronologically and according to the time period they were written in. As a digital article, Carlick makes good use of his selected medium and incorporates hyperlinks into each author’s name and novel’s title to provide easier access for the reader.

Overall, the article is a little longer than most, but is executed well. It’s flowing and draws examples from both the author’s life and the history surrounding them to further drive home his point that the identity of queer authors is extremely important to the work itself.