Abstract:
This paper presents a literary analysis of Blue 6UL /DQND¶V ILUVW (QJOLVK ODQJXDJH
anthology of erotica that publicly went on sale in January 2011. It specifically examines
the collection for four stories of eroticism between women. The main question focuses on
the subtitle of Blue ZKLFKIUDPHVWKHFRQWHQWVRIWKHFROOHFWLRQDV³VWRULHVIRUDGXOWV ´7KH
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given that in the wider socio-political context, the expression of desire between adult
women, in public or in private, and whether consenting or not, is interpreted to be
criminalized in Sri Lanka due to the existence of Section 365A of the Penal Code. It
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is affected by his or her sexuality, specifically in relation to the enjoyment of civil,
political, social, and cultural rights (Richardson, 1998). Of particular relevance to this
viewpoint is the idea that citizenship norms, particularly as they are constituted by these
rights, are structured by heterosexuality²specifically certain dominant models of
heterosexuality (Richardson, 2000).
Thus, the paper claims that these four stories prompt us to consider what it means for a
text such as Blue to include stories to do with same-sex desiring women in Sri Lanka as
³VWRULHV IRUDGXOWV´ ZKHQWKRVH VXEMHFWVDQGWKHH[SUHVVLRQRIWKHLUGHVLUHVDppear to be
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description? Or is it an illustration of how Blue, as a cultural text, invokes cultural rights,
one of the axes of citizenship? In other words, is it a bold articulation of the cultural rights
of these subjects and their desires, in terms of assigning them representation, visibility,
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dignifying representation, propagation of iGHQWLW\DQGPDLQWHQDQFHRIOLIHVW\OHV´ 3DNXOVNL
1997, p. 73). It asks if the subtitle, instead of being a mere description, actually hails each
of the four stories as a legitimate cultural narrative of love in Sri Lanka. The paper is
premised on the assumption, developed by the scholarly analysis of sexual stories and
19
storytelling, that the sexual stories told by the members of a given society can powerfully
define their culture (Plummer, 1995).
Arguing that Blue in fact does hail the stories in this way, the paper explores the question
of the significance of a text like Blue for the wider intellectual and other engagements on
gender and sexuality in Sri Lanka. The paper begins by examining the tensions between
the subtitle, the four stories, and the socio-cultural contexts of the production of Blue. It
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DUH WKDW ³VWRULHV IRU DGXOWV´ hails these four stories at multiple levels, chiefly that such
stories should be published for adult reading, in full recognition of the contradictions
implied by Sri Lankan social contexts; that sexualities²complex, multiple, forbidden,
permitted etc.²caQ EHDWWDFKHGWR DQG µSDVV¶ XQGHUWKH VHHPLQJO\LQQRFXRXVLGHQWLW\ RI
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which tKHFROOHFWLRQ DVDZKROH VXPPRQVWKHQDUUDWLYHVDQGSUHVHQWVDV³DOLWWOHERRNRI
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