Lecture by Roland Betancourt (University of California) at the Ohio State University, United States: Like the Dawn of Creation: Byzantine Fragments in the Queer Imagination

This talk explores how Byzantium operates as a queer cipher in modern culture, appearing as an adjectival modifier, “the Byzantine,” rather than as a distinct historical referent. Analyzing Gore Vidal’s 1959 adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s Suddenly, Last Summer, I demonstrate how Byzantine references encode queer identity through the film’s absent protagonist, whose unspeakable sexuality mirrors Byzantium’s own unintelligibility. Drawing on extensive archival research, I show how “the Byzantine” articulated coded queerness for these writers and artists. My talk proposes reimagining Byzantine art history through modes of “queer fragmentation,” recognizing Byzantine elements across temporal boundaries.

For more information https://history-of-art.osu.edu/events/patrons-circle-lecture-2025-roland-betancourt