Klapper 534
megan.paslawski@qc.cuny.edu
Research Interests
My current book project is tentatively entitled Instructional Desires: American LGBTQ Life Writing in the Twenty-First Century. Engaging with significant movements in queer/trans autobiography that include autotheory, trauma narratives, archival studies, and witnessing, I read these texts as complex negotiations of the ethnographic expectations and impulses attaching to first-person projects that depict LGBTQ lives. This focus illuminates a distinct pedagogical orientation within contemporary queer/trans life writing that positions these texts as mediators of LGBTQ survival and intergenerational continuance. My other research interests are likewise rooted in 20th- and 21st-century American literature, with particular attention to HIV/AIDS narratives and queer/trans fiction. My longstanding affiliation with CUNY’s Lost & Found Press furthers my commitment to archival studies and literary editing, and I also write fiction that is often inspired by my research.
Teaching Interests
Some of the undergraduate courses I’ve taught include ENGL 325: Gender and Sexualities and ENGL 319: 20th- and 21st-Century Literature. While the topics may vary, my classes all share an understanding of literary study as an ongoing conversation to which students have important contributions to make. I also recently taught an ENGL 781 section that focused on American HIV/AIDS narratives. I look forward to working with MA students interested in 20th- and 21st-century American literature, LGBTQ and HIV-affected literature, and life writing.
Selected Publications
Essays
Paslawski, Megan, and Meg Metcalf. “Towards a Many-Gendered Daughters of Bilitis.” Grabbing Tea: Queer Conversations on Archives and Practice, edited by Sara A. Howard and Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, Library Juice, 2022. (Forthcoming)
Paslawski, Megan. “Publishing’s Restorative Properties.” American Book Review, vol. 34, no. 3, 2013, pp. 8-9.
Edited Volumes
Berlin, Lucia, and Edward and Jennifer Dorn. Selected Letters. Edited by Megan Paslawski, Lost & Found, 2022. (Forthcoming)
Rumaker, Michael. Robert Duncan in San Francisco. Edited by Ammiel Alcalay and Megan Paslawski, City Lights, 2013. With interview, correspondence, and a new introduction.
Rumaker, Michael. “Like a Great Armful of Wild & Wonderful Flowers”: Selected Letters. Edited by Megan Paslawski, Lost & Found, 2012.
Short Stories
Paslawski, Megan. “A Raccoon Bites Jen.” CALYX Journal. Vol. 33:3. Winter/Spring 2023. (Forthcoming)
Paslawski, Megan. “Widdershins.” Tampa Review. Fall 2022. (Forthcoming)
Paslawski, Megan. “The Off-Season.” Pembroke Magazine, no. 53, 2021, p. 73-84.
Paslawski, Megan. “Fatberg.” Blue Earth Review, no. 26, 2021, p. 65-69.
Paslawski, Megan. “SaniTent City.” The Texas Review, vol. 39, no. 3 & 4, 2018, pp. 12-21.
