Title: Queer Kin in the Oeuvre of Rebecca Brown: De-naturalizing Biological Kinship and Performing the Family
Abstract: De-naturalizing Biological Kinship andPerforming the Family critically in works of a wide generic diversity.The project manifests itself, for instance, in her "modern bestiary," The Dogs (1998), in her fictionalized autobiography, The End of Youth (2003), and in "Old" from her collection of prose poems, Woman in Ill-Fitting Wig (2005).Brown's most well-known work is The Gifts of the Body (1994), which earned her several awards, including a Lambda Literary Award.The book recounts the heavily autobiographical and emotionally powerful experiences of a home-care worker assisting people with AIDS.It testifies to the existence and power of gay and lesbian chosen families, whose durability was revealed to the heterosexual majority during the AIDS crisis.