Trans Readings
A Legacy from Myself to Myself
Abstract
This essay discusses the meanings and possibilities of trans readings. Taking departure in the multitude of cross-dressings, non-binary identities and gender variations of the history of literature, the essay argues for broad understandings of trans. Such themes are often impossible to translate into modern-day terms, but nonetheless vital to trans readings. The essay also argues for alliances of di erent readings, attempting to engage in both similarities and di erences of intersex, lesbian, gay, and trans. e category of trans is impossible to separate from other categories, and the so-called trans/cis binary is in itself an illusion. Still, that does not make trans any less fruitful as a point of departure; either as discussions of transing genders in fiction or the meanings of fiction for transgender persons.