Exploration of Homosexual Psychology: A Reading of Merchant’s The Man Who Would Be Queen

Abstract

This research project explores the portrayal of homosexuality in Hoshang Merchant's autobiography, The Man Who Would Be Queen. The autobiography depicts the challenges faced by a homosexual man in Indian culture and highlights the struggle of a common man to survive. The researcher aims to analyze the negative attitudes of society towards homosexuality, as demonstrated through Merchant's personal experiences and the social reformation he advocated for. Examining the topics of homosexuality in The Man Who Would Be Queen and analyzing how homosexuality is portrayed in Indian culture are the major goals of this study. Sedgwick's concept of homosexuality has been applied for the interpretation of the social, cultural, and political context in which individuals experience their sexuality. The research employs a qualitative research approach based on literary theory as a tool to interpret the text, and content analysis to analyze the text. The research concludes that Hoshang Merchant's The Man Who Would Be Queen makes a major contribution to the discourse on homosexuality in Indian culture, and that it challenges the fixed binary of heterosexuality and homosexuality.

KEYWORDS: homosexuality, autobiography, Indian culture, LGBTQ+, sexual identity