Trick Lucero – Bisexuality Expanding upon Queer Theory in “William Wilson”

This edition of Edgar Allen Poe’s William Wilson is designed to look into the queer nature of the text through a lens which has yet to be applied to the work. One of the first theories arrived at by queer or allied readers is that the title character, William Wilson, is fighting not only his own morality, but his own attraction to men in the form of his doppelganger. As argued by my fellow editor Maddie Patterson, this doppelganger could be a reflection upon Poe himself. An interesting reading which would make the logical conclusion in queer theory be that Poe himself was a queer writer suppressing his sexuality as William Wilson does. Many would say that then, Poe and Wilson are both gay men. This addition of a gay lens on the piece is interesting, however it is one which I believe to be flawed. What these readers seem not to assess is the fact that William canonically is also attracted to and having sexual relationships with women, as was Poe. Therefore, William Wilson is not gay or straight. Here, as is the case with many queer readings of works, the clearly displayed bisexuality of the main character is undercut. Many people would rather he either be straight or gay than look into the idea that he might be bisexual, as is the most evidenced identity we see in relation to William. This reading takes the previously established idea that William is attracted to his doppelganger and says, “yes, but”.

Bisexual erasure is a very common and harmful phenomenon within both queer and non-queer groups, and often presents itself in the form of believing that one must “pick a side” between being either straight or gay. However, bisexual umbrella individuals are not “confused” nor are they eventually going to figure out that they were actually straight or gay/lesbian all along. According to Mark McCormack, “Bisexual identities have often been either erased or marginalised in Anglo-American cultures (Garber, 1995; Weinberg et al., 1994). They have been undermined primarily through the prevalence of negative stereotypes, including beliefs that bisexuals are unable to admit to having a homosexual orientation (Burleson, 2005), and that bisexuality is a transitory experiment with same-sex intimacy or a transitional stage before fully coming out as gay (MacDonald, 1981).”  However, people can be and simply are attracted to more than one gender and/or sex at once. A very real identity of people is, often enough for it to have a name, erased from literature and culture altogether through the use of these misconceptions. In this edition, my aim is to battle against bisexual erasure and demonstrate how bisexuality can be seen all throughout history, including in Poe’s 1839 story, William Wilson.

For the sake of this edition, I will not be hashing out whether William seems more bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, or any other variant on the identity. This is because the point is that he is attracted to more than one gender. There is also not enough specific evidence from the point of view of William Wilson to ascertain which precise sexuality he would identify with were he to know about their existence. Due to the fact that bisexuality is an umbrella term which holds pansexuality and omnisexuality under it, as well as the fact that it is the identity which I, the author, am most familiar with, I will be calling William Wilson’s attraction to more than one gender bisexuality. The following edition argues that William Wilson is, rather than straight or gay, a bisexual man and works to demonstrate how this informs his behavior throughout the narrative.