Producing and Translating YA Books with Queer Protagonists in Times of Culture Wars

Abstract

Transgender identities have become a core issue in the cultural debates of Western societies, where two conflicting narratives have emerged. On the one hand, intersectional transfeminism seeks to deconstruct the heteronormative gender binary. On the other, homotransphobia has been normalized in far-right ideologies as a cornerstone of the global anti-gender discourse (Wodak 2021). While anti-genderism has turned gender identities into contested sites, education and literature remain places for resistance against prejudice. In particular, the production and international circulation of books for young adults (YAs) are key issues today. This contribution understands YA literature as an empowering tool for both queer and non-queer YAs to understand today’s complex society. It aims to investigate trans narratives in American and Italian YA books, and their circulation as translated texts. This analysis brings together trans studies (Stryker and Whittle 2006), feminist and queer translation studies (Castro and Ergun 2017; Epstein and Gillett 2017), and their application to YA literature (Epstein 2015; Jenkins and Cart 2018). The paper first maps out the evolution of American trans-themed books and the reaction of Italian publishing. Second, it presents the first YA autobiographical comic by a trans Italian author, i.e., Alec Trenta’s Barba, to highlight differences and similarities in trans narratives across cultures. Third, it focuses on the American graphic memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, and analyzes some strategies used in its Italian translation. Ultimately, it discusses how YA literature can foster inclusion, thus ‘doing’ politics in today’s culture wars on gender.

Keywords: YA literature, trans identities, gender-neutral language, queer books, gender ideology.