Digital Object Identifier
R. Raj Rao’s Mehmud and Ayaz (2024), a queer reworking of history, is examined in this research paper. Heteronormative historiography is questioned by highlighting the novel's themes of homoerotic Desire, affection and repressed longing. Using queer theory and history writing as tools of critique, the study examines how the novel subverts the prevailing notions of masculinity, power, and sexuality. The novel Mehmud and Ayaz as counter history is supported in this study by analysing the text closely as a way of affirming the consciousness of queer and of opposing the denial of non-heteronormative Desire in Indian history.
Ms. Rinku, Dr. Tripti Choudhary. “Reimagining the Past: Queer Historiography in R. Raj Rao’s Mehmud and Ayaz.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 3, June 2026, pp. 667-679. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n3.41.
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