Melancholia and Moralism: Essays on AIDS and Queer Politics (MIT Press)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.67 (675 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0262532646 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 330 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-02-14 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
AIDS, he demonstrates, is the repressed, unconscious force that drives the destructive moralism of the new, anti-liberation gay politics expounded by such mainstream gay writers as Larry Kramer, Gabriel Rotello, and Michelangelo Signorile, as well as Sullivan. Journalist Andrew Sullivan, notorious for pronouncing the AIDS epidemic over, even claimed that once those few rights had been won, the gay rights movement would no longer have a reason to exist.Crimp challenges such complacency, arguing that not only is the AIDS epidemic far from over, but that its determining role in queer politics has never been greater. He also analyzes Robert Mapplethorpe's and Nicholas Nixon's photography, John Greyson's AIDS musical "Zero Patience," Gregg Bordowitz's video "Fast Trip, Long Drop," the Names Project Quilt, and the annual "Day without Art.". Crimp examines various cultural phenomena, including Randy Shilts's bestseller And the
A Necessary Antedote to Prevailing Gay Views Kindle Customer Douglas Crimp's collection of essays, many of which were written a decade ago, still have relevance today. They provide a necessary antidote to the views of many gay commentators who claim to speak for gays and lesbians in a voice of assimulation and accomodation. Crimp deconstructs their arguments to reveal their ambivalence (at best) and their homophobia (at worst).Crimp's essays are uneven in that for those uninitiated to the jargon of queer theory, such as m
While writing in an academic tone, Crimp is unafraid of practical (and controversial) topics, as in the 1987 essay "How to Have Promiscuity in an Epidemic" which traces how antisexual, homophobic attitudes about sex fueled rather than halted the spread of AIDS, and will raise eyebrows even today. . Crimp (On the Museum's Ruins), professor of visual and cultural studies at the University of Rochester, casts a wide net in a variety of such interrelated fields: the politics of displaying AIDS-related art at museums, the use of the term "politically correct" to attack politicized art about th