Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Throughout Somewhere Beyond the Sea, queer and queer-coded characters demonstrate how queer joy can stand in opposition to attempts to enforce norms that exclude and oppress individual people and stigmatized groups. The government of the unnamed country in which the story is set tries to enforce a hierarchy that privileges the non-magical; its two most prominent representatives among the story’s characters—Rowder and Marblemaw—both actively promote heteronormativity. For example, Rowder mocks Lucy’s name as not appropriate for a boy, and Marblemaw tries to convince Talia to shave off her beard and criticizes her for not behaving in a ladylike way. The government has specific agencies devoted to registering magical beings and regulating their lives—particularly their living arrangements and education. No such equivalents are mentioned for non-magical beings.

Arthur, Linus, and their children all stand in opposition to these sources of oppression. Arthur explicitly positions the joy of his relationship with Linus in opposition to the government when he invites Linus to dance in the bugged hotel room, saying, “Let them listen to what joy sounds like. Maybe they’ll learn a thing or two” (56). Their love for one another and the happiness it brings them is a central focus of the text and gives them the strength that they need to fight the government’s attempts to split apart their home. The children in their care, although not explicitly identified as “queer,” are all “queer-coded.” They are all magical beings, and the text frequently links the concept of magical beings to queerness, using magic as an allegory for identities that exist outside of heteronormativity. Sal, a male-identified character, has a “lovely” face and long, tightly coiled hair. His identity is ambiguous in that he is both boy and Pomeranian, and in his Chapter 2 poem he claims the identity of both boy and girl, vigorously defending his right to his own ambiguity. Talia’s dialogue is full of references to violence, a characteristic more often associated with traditional masculinity in contemporary culture. She also has a splendid white beard that she is very proud of—and both she and her siblings strenuously defend her right to keep the beard when Marblemaw tries to shame her into shaving it off to appear more feminine. The story makes clear that the children are all proud of their individuality and that they take great joy in both their own and their siblings’ eccentricities. Their loving bonds with one another and their two fathers create a security and self-confidence that allows them to experience a joy that Klune implicitly positions as a threat to the government agents’ attempts to make them fit into uncomfortable and unfamiliar normative molds.