To view prices and purchase online, please login or create an account now.



Queer Angels in Post-1945 American Literature and Culture: Bad Beatitudes

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Queer Angels in Post-1945 American Literature and Culture: Bad Beatitudes
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Dr David Deutsch
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:224
Dimensions(mm): Height 234,Width 156
Category/GenreLiterature - history and criticism
Literary studies - from c 1900 -
ISBN/Barcode 9781350198999
ClassificationsDewey:810.9382021509044
Audience
Tertiary Education (US: College)
Illustrations 1 bw illus

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publication Date 23 February 2023
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

From Allen Ginsberg's 'angel-headed hipsters' to angelic outlaws in Essex Hemphill's Conditions, angelic imagery is pervasive in queer American art and culture. This book examines how the period after 1945 expanded a unique mixture of sacred and profane angelic imagery in American literature and culture to fashion queer characters, primarily gay men, as embodiments of 'bad beatitudes'. Deutsch explores how authors across diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, including John Rechy, Richard Bruce Nugent, Allen Ginsberg, and Rabih Alameddine, sought to find the sacred in the profane and the profane in the sacred. Exploring how these writers used the trope of angelic outlaws to celebrate men who rebelled wilfully and nobly against religious, medical, legal and social repression in American society, this book sheds new light on dissent and queer identities in postmodern American literature.

Author Biography

David Deutsch is Associate Professor of English at the University of Alabama, USA.

Reviews

"Queer Angels performs an exciting reorientation of twentieth-century gay men's writing around the figure of the angel, highlighting how writers as different as Nugent, Rechy, Ginsberg, and Alameddine reconceive experiences of degradation as epiphanic, filled with grace and 'bad beatitude.'" * Steven F. Kruger, Professor, Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY, U.S. * David Deutsch's book is a heaven-sent addition to our deep knowledges of queer U.S. literature. Queer Angels in Post-WWII American Literature and Culture will be widely embraced by scholars invested in sexuality and gender studies and religious studies alike. * Scott Herring, Professor of American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Yale University, USA *