In this episode, we chat to Isabel Waidner about their new novel, Corey Fah Does Social Mobility. We discuss the notion of 'liberating the canon' and the role of formal innovation in representing marginalised perspectives across gender, sexuality, social class and race. We explore the queering of the Bambi figure in Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, the radical importance of acknowledging references and transdisciplinary approaches to art-making. We discuss the role of football and music as traditional ways for working-class people to access 'social mobility' and consider how literature might fit within this. We explore the queering of time and history within the novel and highlight the necessity of balancing a critique of society with the liberatory potential of queer imaginaries. We dicuss the gatekeeping of the literary establishment, the false promises of meritocracy in awards culture and the commodification of art, exploring the limitations of neoliberalism.

Isabel Waidner is a writer based in London. They are the author of Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, Sterling Karat Gold, We Are Made of Diamond Stuff and Gaudy Bauble. They won the Goldsmiths Prize 2021 and were shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize in 2019, the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2022 and the Republic of Consciousness Prize in 2018, 2020 and 2022. They are a co-founder of the event series Queers Read This at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and they are an academic in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London.

References

Liberating the Canon: An Anthology of Innovative Literature by Isabel Waidner

We Are Made of Diamond Stuff by Isabel Waidner

Sterling Carat Gold by Isabel Waidner

Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabael Waidner

An Alternative Art History of the 1990s by Isabel Waidner (Frieze)

All Us Girls Have Been Dead for So Long by Linda Stupart and Carl Gent

Nicole Eisenman, Bambi Gregor, India ink on paper, 1993

John Lahr, Prick Up Your Ears, 1978

Loot by Joe Orton

As always, listen for the code and visit Storysmith for 10% discount on Isabel's work