The Importance of Queer Literature (The Song of Achilles Commentary)
By: Alex Chadwick
Tags: Queer, Queer Literature, LGBTQ, Madeline Miller, The Song Of Achilles

To be completely honest, I discovered Madeline Miller and The Song of Achilles through Tik Tok. Which, as a young person, is not a big surprise. I never would have found her otherwise- I rarely have the time or excuse to read. It’s not that I hate reading- I have read plenty in the past. “Plenty” as in Donna Tartt and Oscar Wilde. It is so extremely hard to find a book that I genuinely like, because the only thing that resonates with me is queer literature. Growing up in the bible belt as not only a romantic, but a queer romantic, certainly puts up barriers between life and reality. There is no question that human connection is everywhere when growing up. Movies and storybooks, parental figures and kindergarten “boyfriends”, a school dance and a first crush. These things are part of life. They have been, and for those who have experienced them, they always will be. For the majority of children, this structure and hierarchy of human connection goes by like a second thought. And why shouldn’t it? Viewing relationships, going through puberty, and discovering a romantic attraction is part of growing up. For me, and other children like me, there is often a disconnect. I grew up not understanding the meaning of relationships. Certainly I knew that love was real and possible, but I could not seem to understand why it matters, or how it matters. Why wasn’t I feeling the same way as the other girls? I grew up craving a genuine human connection, and as I looked around at all the girls flirting and texting these tall and lanky boys who I tried and tried to feel attraction to (with no avail), I began to think that I would never achieve genuine human connection- or at least not in the same way. Queer literature is something that has helped me build back a confidence that people like me can find a human connection, and we can find a connection just as powerful (if not more) as straight people. I know some people who would scoff at my connection with queer literature- why can’t you just read books with straight characters? Not everything has to be centered around the gay experience. And to be honest, I have read about the straight experience. So. Many. Times. In fact, the straight experience has been shoved down every one of our throats since we were born, whether we know it or not. Storybooks with a princess and prince, the “normal” family of a mom and dad, heteronormative english class reading assignments, schoolgirl gossip about boys, magazines with straight famous people marrying and divorcing a million times, I could go on and on. Not only is straight the default- it is the epitome of normal. Growing up, queerness is defined as abnormal- no matter how much you might try to fight it. And however much abnormality seems desirable or exciting, it is just plain isolating. So with that being said- that is why I love queer literature. Because it not only makes me feel connected to the text and characters, but it makes me feel normal, or even more than that, desired.

With most queer literature, the time period is modern. There is nothing particularly wrong with this, but I often find myself wishing for more period pieces that feature LGBTQ characters. After all, children’s storybooks are set in a palace far far away in the “olden days’’ with a beautiful princess and a prince. A good amount of classic romance films and novels are set anywhere from the 40’s to the 80’s (hell, even the 1800’s), depicting a timeless love paired with a sweet vintage aesthetic that leaves tired hipsters suggesting they were born in the “wrong generation”. Not for queer people. No, for us we get modern storylines that usually centers around a character coming out, a forbidden love, or a steamy gay affair. In moderation these stories are fine- these are situations that plenty of queer people have dealt with, but let’s change the narrative a little for God’s sake! Queue The Song of Achilles. Madeline Miller not only makes being in a homosexual relationship normal, she makes it beautiful. The relationship between Achilles and Patroclus has always been questioned by historians, whether this relationship was purely platonic or something more. Though- really historians? Achilles and Patroclus refused to ever sleep in separate tents, neither married, and Achilles asked to be burned and buried with Patroclus so their souls could stay connected. Personally, I believe that the reluctance of historians to be clear about their relationship, and historians’ habit of ambiguity that suggests that being a homosexual is a “scandalous” secret is just another example of why queer literature is important. Madeline Miller destigmatized the blatant connection between Achilles and Patroclus, making their relationship pure, honest, and unmistakable clear, which is something that I find is relatively rare when describing gay relationships in literature or in the media. Sure, there are themes of the “forbidden love” trope that is so common in LGBTQ literature and media, but the difference is that this text focuses on the beauty of human connection, not the struggle for human connection. I could go on and on about this book and why it transcends perfection, but that isn’t the point of this article. The point is that queer literature is not only important, it is essential. And Madeline Miller, whether she meant to or not, has created a work that destigmatizes homosexuality in a way that makes young queer people like me feel normal, and more than that, capable of beautiful human connection.