Saying No but Meaning Yes: A Study of Queer Love and Loss in Nang-Eke by Anchan

Abstract

        Nang-Eke (2004), a novel by Anchan, explores the theme of female homosexuality with a seemingly sympathetic perspective on a person who challenges gender norms by expressing same-sex desire. However, in narrating the story of Kanya, a lesbian character, the novel frames her experiences through the perspective of Pim, another female character. Pim’s account of Kanya portrays lesbian desire not as love, but as seduction—where Kanya is depicted as sexually violating Pim. Using queer theory as a reading method, I argue that beneath the novel’s normative narrative structure lies Pim’s unspoken desire for Kanya. Since love between women is framed as a forbidden desire, Kanya can only express her longing through acts of negation. Pim’s denial of her attraction to Kanya, shaped by the constraints of heteronormative culture, aligns with Judith Butler’s concept of melancholy gender—the notion that gender is constructed through the loss of same-sex desire, which is then internalized and disavowed. The double negation renders queer loss ungrievable. Yet, the repression of homosexuality within a heteronormative framework does not erase its presence; rather, it inscribes queerness within the psyche, leaving individuals perpetually haunted by what has been cast out. A queer reading of Nang-Eke, therefore, embraces loss and negation not as mere absence, but as a active force that reveals the spectral power of what is rejected, underscoring its lingering presence in the narrative.