FROM QUEER DESIRE TO QUEER CITIZENSHIP: THE EVOLUTION OF GAY IDENTITY IN R. RAJ RAO'S THE BOYFRIEND, HOSTEL ROOM 131, AND LADY LOLITA'S LOVER

Abstract

The paper is an examination of the development of the gay identity in three novels by R. Raj Rao. These novels are The Boyfriend (2003), Hostel Room 131 (2010), and Lady Lolita's Lover (2015). The paper suggests that a shift within Rao's oeuvre from the closeted queer desire to a notion of queer citizenship is evident. The paper follows a three-fold journey. The first part is the making of a sexual subculture in Bombay's cruising spots in The Boyfriend. Here, gay identity is founded on desire and is an imitation of the heterosexist. The second is the radical politicization of that desire in the communal areas of Hostel Room 131. The third part is the effort to find a middle-class queer life in a globalized India in Lady Lolita's Lover. The paper draws on concepts of Michel Foucault on power and heterotopia and on Judith Butler on performativity.