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One of the most influential developments in gender theory during the 1990s was Judith Butler's contention that "[g]ender ought not to be construed as a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts follow; rather, gender is an identity tenuously constituted in time, instituted in an exterior space through a stylized repetition of acts" (1990a, 140). Butler claims that "[s]uch acts, gestures, enactments, generally construed, are performative in the sense that the essence or identity that they otherwise purport to express are fabrications manufactured and sustained through corporeal signs and other discursive means" (136).1 Butler, and those who have been influenced by her, articulate how subjects are compelled to reiterate regulatory gender norms and how drag or other queer actions might subvert this process, exposing the illusion of a stable, normative gender core. It is also possible, however, to study how the reiteration of "queer regulatory norms" constructs queer subjects; how queer identities are based on a seemingly obligatory repetition of acts, gestures, and appearances which heteronormative society defines as abject Other.In Robert McAlmon's Berlin stories, set in the early years of Weimar Berlin, three Americans attempt to construct their (homo)sexual identities; yet their constructions are informed by-and limited to-signs of queerness already in circulation. The city that offers all three characters the freedom to be queer thus also "confines" them to a degenerate, self-destructive lifestyle.2 Each character's queerness hinges on not only the fact that he or she is sexually attracted to people of the same sex but also in varying degrees appearance, mannerisms, and speech style. In each case, we can observe how the character consciously performs queerness, seemingly creating a queer identity, yet at the same time drawing on established cultural codes that mark him or her as queer in normative society's eyes.In "Distinguished Air," Foster Graham self-consciously constructs his appearance: "he was pleased with the new wardrobe he had bought there [i.e., in Paris], careful this time to see that every garment had a chichi touch. The trousers he wore were drawn in at the waist, and pleated there. The coat was padded smoothly at the shoulders, so that the descending line to the waist gave his figure a too obvious hour-glass appearance" (McAlmon 1992, 23). He has also had his hair "waved" and his mustache waxed. (24) Foster seeks to make an appearance that will capture the right attention. The narrator's careful observation and implied disapproval of what he observes illustrates how Foster's deviation from a "normal" man's appearance both attracts and repels. Foster performs his identity not only through appearance. The narrator reports that "[w]e had not spoken fifteen sentences to each other before Foster was camping, hands on hips, with a quick eye to notice every man who passed by" (23). That after a brief exchange in which he apparently speaks in an acceptable manner Foster begins to act queer suggests that he needs to periodically re-establish his queerness through behavior that is recognizably queer. And he particularly needs to do this with those who are not queer. The narrator chides him for camping around those "who don't understand" (25). Although the narrator evidently understands that Foster's "cheap and flippant" behavior is merely queer performance-which he assumes Foster can turn on and off as he pleases-he feels ill at ease with Foster and acknowledges that the only reason he speaks with him is that they are both Americans living in a foreign city. In one sense Foster consciously creates his sexual identity through his clothing, coiffeur, gestures, and speech-a creative task that is repeatedly carried out; but his choices are limited. I will return to this point after examining the other two queer characters in McAlmon's stories.The main character in "Miss Knight" constructs a queer identity performatively through camping gestures and speech acts that connote femininity but at the same time draws attention to his masculine form: Knight has an antipathy for "bitches" who put on airs and threatens to "lay 'em out stinkin'"; after claiming that he is "a real man," he shrieks (McAlmon 1992, 3). … |
