Complicating young adult LGBTQ narrative: : A literary analysis of Rebecca Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Abstract: Since they first emerged, young adult books have had five decades to come of age. During these five decades many sub-genres have developed, including, not least, the LGBTQ sub-genre. This particular sub-genre has undergone a lot of change and development over the years, but the narratives within the sub-genre are still critiqued for strengthening stereotypes, being too one dimensional and being controlled by heteronormative discourse.             This paper aims to look at how aspects of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (Albertalli 2015), an example of a coming out narrative in the young adult fiction genre, compares to defining features of conventional LGBTQ narratives. Paying attention particularly to narrative structure, agency, heteronormativity, the coming out process and central plot conflicts, this paper argues that Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda complicates features conventionally associated with young adult LGBTQ fiction.              Michael Cart and Christina A. Jenkins research in the book The Heart Has Its Reasons will act as a baseline for what will be described as conventional LGBTQ narratives in this essay. With an understanding of what is typically the narrative for LGBTQ young adult books I try to decipher how a fairly recent example of LGBTQ narrative differs or coincides with conventional LGBTQ narratives. Keywords: Queer narrative; young adult fiction; heteronormativity, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, Becky Albertalli, literature, young adult literature.