„My Lady Story”
The Body as an Instrument of Transgression in Anohni’s Lyrics
Sławomir Kuźnicki
slavekkk@wp.plInstytut Nauk o Literaturze, Uniwersytet Opolski (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8034-9469
Abstract
Changes concerning such a marginalised phenomenon as a transfeminine body do not occur without effort and pain. On the contrary, pain constitutes an integral element of transformation; without suffering change would not be possible or it would be irrelevant, superficial. Simultaneously, in a paradoxical way pain becomes intertwined with experiencing pleasure, or even delight. The following article focuses on the phenomenon of a transfemale body as described in the lyrics of Anohni (born Antony Hegarty), a transgender diva and the leader of the band named Anohni/Antony and the Johnsons. In her texts she speaks of her experience as a trans person, or a trans woman to be more precise. Employing such an autobiographical perspective, she emphasises the transformative dimension of these processes: the painful, yet necessary and liberating power of transition and the construction of her own femininity. Consequently, the personas created by Anohni in her lyrics appear to be active agents of such a transformation, both in the realm of transfemale physicality and in her external, public dimension. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to examine various strategies Anohni uses to illustrate the stages of the often contradictory process of the bodily transformation: from its marginalization to its total and joyful recognition, both on the personal and cultural levels.
Keywords:
transgender, Anohni, transfemale, body, sexualityReferences
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Authors
Sławomir Kuźnickislavekkk@wp.pl
Instytut Nauk o Literaturze, Uniwersytet Opolski Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8034-9469
Sławomir Kuźnicki – doktor nauk humanistycznych, pracuje w Instytucie Nauk o Literaturze Uniwersytetu Opolskiego. Autor monografii Margaret Atwood’s Dystopian Fiction: Fire Is Being Eaten (2017), Na stykach iskrzy. Literackie konteksty rocka (2023) oraz artykułów naukowych z zakresu literatury rocka, prozy spekulatywnej i feminizmów; współredaktor książki Sex in the States: Media, Literature, and Discourse (2022); zastępca redaktora naczelnego w „Explorations: A Journal of Language and Literature”; autor czterech tomów wierszy.
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