RESEARCH
past present future
AMERICAN LITERATURE AFTER 1950
Diarmuid has published widely on post-War American literature and is an authority on LGBTQ+ writing in particular.
In addition to WRONG, his critical biography of Dennis Cooper, Diarmuid has written essays on figures like Kathy Acker and Lynne Tillman, and New Narrative writers like Dodie Bellamy, Kevin Killian, and Robert Glück. 'New Narrative Now', his special issue of Textual Practice co-edited with Kasia Boddy is forthcoming in 2021.
Image: flyer for reading and performance at Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles, January 6, 1985
QUEER SPACES & CULTURES
Diarmuid’s current research explores the relationship between space and queer identity in the twentieth century. It considers the importance of places, cities, and landscapes in the work of LGBTQ+ artists, writers, and entertainers. His new book, Nothing Ever Just Disappears: A New History of Queer Culture Through its Spaces will be published by Allen Lane/Penguin in 2023.
A pilot for this project was launched in November 2019. A Great Recorded History is an audio trail of Cambridge’s queer spaces using oral histories and excerpts from the work of queer writers like E.M. Forster, Edward Carpenter, and Ali Smith. Find out more about the trail here.
Image: leathermen in New York, late-1970s
AMERICAN CULTURE & WASTE
Diarmuid's long-term project is a counterhistory of American culture in the twentieth century from the vantage point of waste.
This research explores how writers and artists of colour and queer artists use waste as a concept and material in their work. Looking at figures such as writer James Baldwin, artist Robert Rauschenberg, and photographer Gordon Parks, Diarmuid’s project shows that the culture of marginalised groups allows us to see waste differently. This research is funded by the Leverhulme Trust in the form of an Early Career Fellowship.
Image: still from Jack Smith's Normal Love (1964)
