Queering the Narratives, Queering the Revolution

This article explores the intersections of queerness and the 2011 revolution within two Syrian non-Arabic novels. Departing from traditional portrayals of male homosexual relationships in Arab literature, Le dernier Syrien (2020) and The Foghorn Echoes (2022) contribute to a broader effort to craft ‘disclosed’ representations of non-normative sexualities. By contextualizing queer narratives within the Syrian revolutionary process, these novels also enrich the uprising's discourses across individual, social, cultural, and political dimensions. As underscored by the LGBTQI+ series on Ḥikāya mā inḥakat/SyriaUntold (2013), archiving queer experiences related to the 2011 revolution is crucial for fostering a future collective memory that embraces inclusivity. These novels thus exemplify the role of literature in this archival endeavour, while illustrating the interconnections between discursive, sociocultural, and political forms of oppression.