Open AccessCamphor Laurel: A Re-vision of Desire
Author(s) -
Kate McInally
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
papers (victoria park)/papers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1837-4530
pISSN - 1034-9243
DOI - 10.21153/pecl2003vol13no2art1289
Subject(s) - mainstream , normative , sexual orientation , gender studies , heterosexuality , politics , identity (music) , psychology , sociology , representation (politics) , aesthetics , homosexuality , epistemology , art , philosophy , political science , law
Sarah Walker's 'Camphor Laurel' demonstrates that the text is one of a few Young Adult fictions which destabilise cultural assumptions concerning a normative heterosexuality, as it engages with male-centred discourses that have attempted to reconcile feminine desire with sexual orientation and categorisation. The novel's representation of same-sex desire by young female characters moves beyond the models of maturational development and identity politics, which inform most mainstream fiction.