Doing Queer

It is difficult to give thought to the stars when the ground is swallowing you up. (Becky Chambers, To Be Taught, If Fortunate)This paper analyzes the science fiction subgenre hopepunk and its academic potential, specifically when considered as a form of low theory in the sense that Jack Halberstam describes in The Queer Art of Failure. I argue that considering hopepunk as low theory represents a discursive way out of the theoretical dispute between queer futurity and the queer death drive. After establishing hopepunk as a low theory of queer temporality, I examine the way that affect functions in the subgenre as a sort of 'empathy trojan horse.' Throughout this essay I refer to To Be Taught, If Fortunate and The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, whose work is considered the epitome of hopepunk. In referencing Chambers I hope to demonstrate that this work is in fact theory (even if it must be considered the low sort), despite its intention for a non-academic audience.