T. Pugh, Chaucer's Losers, Nintendo's Children, and Other Forays in Queer Ludonarratology - Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

French Literature Reviews - 2026

T. Pugh, Chaucer's Losers, Nintendo's Children, and Other Forays in Queer Ludonarratology
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Chaucer's Losers, Nintendo's Children, and Other Forays in Queer Ludonarratology

Tison Pugh

University of Nebraska Press

ISBN: 978-1-4962-1761-5

282 p.

$55.00

OVERVIEW

Tison Pugh examines the intersection of narratology, ludology, and queer studies, pointing to the ways in which the blurred boundaries between game and narrative provide both a textual and a metatextual space of queer narrative potential. By focusing on these three distinct yet complementary areas, Pugh shifts understandings of the way their play, pleasure, and narrative potential are interlinked.

Through illustrative readings of an eclectic collection of cultural artifacts—from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda franchise, from Edward Albee’s dramatic masterpiece Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter fantasy novels—Pugh offers perspectives of blissful ludonarratology, sadomasochistic ludonarratology, the queerness of rules, the queerness of godgames, and the queerness of children’s questing video games. Collectively, these analyses present a range of interpretive strategies for uncovering the disruptive potential of gaming texts and textual games while demonstrating the wide applicability of queer ludonarratology throughout the humanities.

Tison Pugh is Pegasus Professor of English at the University of Central Florida. He is the author of The Queer Fantasies of the American Family Sitcom and Innocence, Heterosexuality, and the Queerness of Children’s Literature, among others.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: David Sedaris’s Queer Poker Game
Part 1. Theorizing Queer Ludonarratology
1. Theorizing Ludonarratology
2. Queering Ludonarratology
Part 2. Structures and Readings in Queer Ludonarrativity
3. Win/Loss
Pregame: The Thrill of Defeat
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Queer Losers and Blissful Ludonarrativity
4. Players
Pregame: Whose Side Are You On?
Edward Albee’s Queer Players and Sadomasochistic Ludonarrativity
5. Godgames
Pregame: Fun and Games with Sociopaths
David Fincher’s Films and Ludonarrativity’s Queer Godgames
6. Rules
Pregame: May the Better Player Lose!
J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels, Muggle Quidditch, and Ludonarrativity’s Queer Rules
7. Children
Pregame: Of Preschoolers and Prodigies
Nintendo’s Queer Children and Questing Ludonarrativity in The Legend of Zelda Video Games
Conclusion: Gone Home and the Ludonarrative Limits of Queer Representation
Notes
Works Cited
Index

The intersection of ludology and narratology has emerged as a site for examining how interactive mechanics and storytelling intersect across media. Scholars in these fields frequently investigate how rules, play, and pleasure construct meaning within both digital environments and traditional texts. By bringing queer theory into dialogue with these approaches, critics examine how unconventional alignments, marginal positions, and subversive play disrupt normative cultural structures. Such inquiries demonstrate how methods typically reserved for digital gaming can illuminate narrative dynamics in literature, drama, and film alike.

Tison Pugh examines the intersection of narratology, ludology, and queer studies, pointing to the ways in which the blurred boundaries between game and narrative provide queer narrative potential. The study features readings of cultural artifacts ranging from The Canterbury Tales to The Legend of Zelda, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and the Harry Potter novels. Readers interested in contemporary approaches to queer theory and media studies may find these explorations relevant to broader discussions in the humanities.