B rite, P oppy Z .

Abstract

With the publication of Lost Souls (1992), Poppy Z. Brite (1967–) achieved instant notoriety as one of Gothic's enfants terribles. Accused of privileging style over substance (Joshi 2004: 208), Brite's earliest works, including Lost Souls, Drawing Blood (1993), and the short story collection Swamp Foetus (published in the United States as Wormwood , 1994), are heavily indebted to both the Gothic and Goth subcultures (see goth ). Jason K. Friedman described Brite's early works as the products of a “postmodern southern goth” mode of writing (2007: 203). Like Goth performativity, this mode playfully parodies, while also participating in, the now ubiquitous Southern Gothic (see southern gothic ). Also central to Brite's “minoritarian Gothic” is a transgendered subjectivity (Holmes 2007: 70). Born Melissa Ann Brite, the author became Poppy Z. Brite in 1985 before relinquishing the pseudonym upon becoming Billy Martin in 2011. As detailed in the autobiographical essay “Enough Rope” (1998), Brite self‐identifies as a queer male, hence the abundance of queer male characters and the marginalization of women throughout his work. While respecting Brite's stated preference to be referred to with male pronouns, it should be noted that his work was closely informed by his gender dysphoria and his vacillation between the categories of “male” and “female,” much like “Dr. Brite,” the authorial alter‐ego that first appeared in Self Made Man (published in the United States as Are You Loathsome Tonight? , 1998), who changes gender with each new story s/he appears in.