Diary as a way of unveiling queer experience

Abstract

Contemporary British novels What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal (2003) by Zoe Heller and Different Class (2016) by Joanne Harris are barely known to the Ukrainian reader and have not been researched thoroughly yet, in particular, diary notes. In the article, attention is focused studying the diary notes and an attempt is made to interpret it. One of the narrative strategies used by writers Z. Heller and J. Harris is the inclusion of diary notes in the above-mentioned novels. As the analysis of the novels shows, a diary can be a source of both truthful and false information. The diary entries encapsulate the experience of protagonists Barbara Covett and David Spikely, whose sexual and gender identities are viewed by other characters as something «strange» («queer»). Readers also observe that, to a certain extent, this experience may appear strange to them. Queerness, denoting a position that is beyond or on the edge of the social order, manifests itself not only through lesbian and heterosexual practices, but also other ways of self-expression that do not conform to established social norms. Bathsheba Hart is exemplified as a person who believes that marriage and children have become an obstacle to her career growth, they can be characterized as factors of victimization. The diary makes the voices of female and male characters heard. to keep diaries due to the inability to express their true feelings in view of the framework established by society. Women are inclined to keep diaries due to the unwillingness to express their true feelings in view of the judgmental framework established by society. Acquaintance with the unreliable narrator Barbara Covett occurs through her diary entries. A special feature of her diary is its focus on making a chronology of her «friend» Bathsheba Hart’s life. In the studied texts, some heroes tend to watch others, in particular, the diary also appears to be a place where the fact of voyeuristic interest is recorded.