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In Theory, Darling

Searching for José Esteban Muñoz and the Queer Imagination

Author Marcos Gonsalez
Ebook (EPUB)
Beacon Press
On sale May 20, 2025 | 192 Pages | 9780807008010
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A love letter to queer of color theory and how it has helped the author to discover himself, reclaim identities, celebrate queer joy, and work towards liberation

Marcos Gonsalez found his greatest source of joy when he encountered queer theory in college. As they put it, "queers and college go together like peanut butter and jelly," and for them, this was especially true. Seeing himself reflected in the work José Esteban Muñoz was life-changing: Muñoz's theory of disidentification empowered Gonsalez to reclaim their Latinx and queer identities--and inspired him to push back against the largely-white monolith of queer theory.

In the sophisticated yet intimately disarming prose of In Theory, Darling, Gonsalez takes his copy of Disidentifications to the gay bar, to the classroom, to their childhome and beyond, inviting us to go along with him as he limns the queerness of reality TV, mourns the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre, searches for their uncle in Paris Is Burning, looks for Muñoz's legacy in the streets of New York, and situates themself in the lineage of the queer elders who have come before him.

Conversational yet deeply analytical, intimate yet wide-ranging, youthful yet sophisticated, Gonsalez's essays crackle with intellectual energy--and remind us just how life-giving theory can be.
“When my deeply beloved friend and colleague José Muñoz died suddenly in 2013 at the age of forty-six, he really had no idea how widely and deeply he was loved by his readers. This collection of overlapping essays by Marcos Gonsalez shows us what made Muñoz such a significant figure for so many. Interweaving autobiography with Muñoz’s influence, In Theory, Darling is both personal, intellectual, and deeply affecting. The reader comes to understand the meaning and impact of an education in theory for the everyday lives of queers of color, as well as for every other reader lucky enough to encounter Muñoz’s legacy.”
—Lisa Duggan, author of The Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy
Marcos Gonsalez is an author, essayist, scholar, and assistant professor of English at Adelphi University. The author of Pedro's Theory: Reimagining the Promised Land (2021), his research on queer and trans Latinx aesthetics and cultural production has been supported by the Ford Foundation and Mellon Foundation. Marcos’s essays, articles, and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Literary Hub, Transgender Studies Quarterly, Inside Higher Education, Ploughshares, Catapult, Los Angeles Review of Books, The New Inquiry, and elsewhere.
Marcos Gonsalez View titles by Marcos Gonsalez
Introduction:
Student, PhD, Professor, Theorist, Stranger

I: The Theory of Falling in Love with Theory

II: He Had to Have . . .

III: In the Office with You

IV: Suit Jacket Informalities

V: Turn the Pulse Around

VI: Saint Muñoz

Coda: Tío José

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

About

A love letter to queer of color theory and how it has helped the author to discover himself, reclaim identities, celebrate queer joy, and work towards liberation

Marcos Gonsalez found his greatest source of joy when he encountered queer theory in college. As they put it, "queers and college go together like peanut butter and jelly," and for them, this was especially true. Seeing himself reflected in the work José Esteban Muñoz was life-changing: Muñoz's theory of disidentification empowered Gonsalez to reclaim their Latinx and queer identities--and inspired him to push back against the largely-white monolith of queer theory.

In the sophisticated yet intimately disarming prose of In Theory, Darling, Gonsalez takes his copy of Disidentifications to the gay bar, to the classroom, to their childhome and beyond, inviting us to go along with him as he limns the queerness of reality TV, mourns the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre, searches for their uncle in Paris Is Burning, looks for Muñoz's legacy in the streets of New York, and situates themself in the lineage of the queer elders who have come before him.

Conversational yet deeply analytical, intimate yet wide-ranging, youthful yet sophisticated, Gonsalez's essays crackle with intellectual energy--and remind us just how life-giving theory can be.

Reviews

“When my deeply beloved friend and colleague José Muñoz died suddenly in 2013 at the age of forty-six, he really had no idea how widely and deeply he was loved by his readers. This collection of overlapping essays by Marcos Gonsalez shows us what made Muñoz such a significant figure for so many. Interweaving autobiography with Muñoz’s influence, In Theory, Darling is both personal, intellectual, and deeply affecting. The reader comes to understand the meaning and impact of an education in theory for the everyday lives of queers of color, as well as for every other reader lucky enough to encounter Muñoz’s legacy.”
—Lisa Duggan, author of The Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy

Author

Marcos Gonsalez is an author, essayist, scholar, and assistant professor of English at Adelphi University. The author of Pedro's Theory: Reimagining the Promised Land (2021), his research on queer and trans Latinx aesthetics and cultural production has been supported by the Ford Foundation and Mellon Foundation. Marcos’s essays, articles, and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Literary Hub, Transgender Studies Quarterly, Inside Higher Education, Ploughshares, Catapult, Los Angeles Review of Books, The New Inquiry, and elsewhere.
Marcos Gonsalez View titles by Marcos Gonsalez

Table of Contents

Introduction:
Student, PhD, Professor, Theorist, Stranger

I: The Theory of Falling in Love with Theory

II: He Had to Have . . .

III: In the Office with You

IV: Suit Jacket Informalities

V: Turn the Pulse Around

VI: Saint Muñoz

Coda: Tío José

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

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