Sexual Personae Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson

Sexual Personae : Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson
ISBN: 9780679735793
Publication Date: 1 September 1991

Here is the fiery, provocative, and unparalleled work of feminist art criticism that launched Camille Paglia's exceptional career as one of our most important public intellectuals. Is Emily Dickinson the female Sade Is Donatello's David a bit of pedophile pornography What is the secret kinship between Byron and Elvis Presley, between Medusa and Madonna How do liberals and feminists as well as conservatives fatally misread human nature

This audacious and omnivorously learned work of guerrilla scholarship offers nothing less than a unified-field theory of Western culture, high and low, since Egyptians invented beauty making a persuasive case for all art as a pagan battleground between male and female, form and chaos, civilization and daemonic nature.

Includes 47 photographs.

About the Author

Camille Paglia is the University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. A regular contributor to Salon.com, she is the author of Glittering Images; Break, Blow, Burn; Sexual Personae; Sex, Art, and American Culture; and Vamps &; Tramps.