Imagining Gender(s) in Contemporary Canadian and American Short Fiction

The article problematizes queer and trans representations in contemporary Canadian and American short fiction from the perspective of the gender of the individuals nonconforming to the cis-normative. The analysis observes how gender, gender-fluidity and queerness are imagined in contemporary fiction, and how these representations can be traced to the historically established perceptions of the patriarchal binary model of genders, as well as how they diverge from it. The concluding remarks invite a polemic on how contemporary discourse on gender stands in contrast with the performed genders in marginalized queer and trans communities, and how they are affected by the capitalist impulse to commodify supposed authenticity of expression into fetishized forms preferred by the dominant heteronormative narratives. The selection of stories encompasses works of anglophone authors published between 2014 and 2018.