During the first year of Barricades, I presented a version of this talk based on my PhD thesis (Creative and Critical Writing – Same-Sex Desire and Intimacy in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and Its Adaptations), which I believe wasn’t recorded or made available to attendees after the live session. I’d love to revisit this topic now I’ve graduated and am working on a proposal for a non-fiction book based on my research; it’s definitely apparent to me from my position within the fandom that ExR is something lots of people are still just discovering for the first time. With this talk, I would discuss historical and literary contexts of Les Mis, and include close readings of the novel, arguing that Enjolras and Grantaire’s relationship is depicted in ways that are comparable to other characters of the period whom scholars have identified as being coded as queer. I would connect this discussion to ideas about transfiguration and queer futurity, and touch on their relationship in adaptation. I submitted a novella as part of my thesis, which reimagines Enjolras and Grantaire’s relationship in the present day, and I’d love to tie fanwork such as this to my critical work on the novel and its adaptations too.