GENDER-BENDING GENRES: QUEERNESS, FEMALE MASCULINITY, AND WARRIORSHIP IN C.L. MOORE’S JIREL OF JOIRY

The aim of this thesis is to examine the trailblazing work of C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry in light of themes of queerness, gender, and female masculinity, which has seldom been analyzed. In this thesis, I will juxtapose Moore’s work with other contemporaries like Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Éowyn to highlight Moore’s trailblazing gendered portrayal. This thesis utilizes Judith Butler’s Undoing Gender and Jack Halberstam’s Female Masculinity as lenses to codify the uniquely gendered portrayal that Moore has left for us to interpret. Furthermore, through examining Jacques Lacan’s interpretation of phallocentricity, this thesis will argue that the art of being a warrior (or warriorship) should be a non-binary conception.