Sexual Personae: Art & Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson

The fiery, provocative, and unparalleled work of feminist art criticism that launched the exceptional career of one of our most important public intellectuals--"a remarkable book, at once outrageous and compelling, fanatical and brilliant.... One must be awed by [Paglia's] vast energy, erudition and wit" (The Washington Post).

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.

With 47 photographs.

Author: Camille Paglia
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 08/20/1991
Pages: 736
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.51lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.22w x 1.52d
ISBN: 9780679735793


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 10/15/1994 pg. 370
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/15/1995 pg. 852

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.