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Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Performance, Race, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)
by James F Wilson"James F. Wilson uncovers fascinating new material on the Harlem Renaissance, shedding light on the oft-forgotten gay and lesbian contributions to the era's creativity and Civil Rights. Extremely well researched, compellingly written, and highly informative." ---David Krasner, author of A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama, and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance, 1910-1927 Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies shines the spotlight on historically neglected plays and performances that challenged early twentieth-century notions of the stratification of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. On Broadway stages, in Harlem nightclubs and dance halls, and within private homes sponsoring rent parties, African American performers of the 1920s and early 1930s teased the limits of white middle-class morality. Blues-singing lesbians, popularly known as "bulldaggers," performed bawdy songs; cross-dressing men vied for the top prizes in lavish drag balls; and black and white women flaunted their sexuality in scandalous melodramas and musical revues. Race leaders, preachers, and theater critics spoke out against these performances that threatened to undermine social and political progress, but to no avail: mainstream audiences could not get enough of the riotous entertainment. Many of the plays and performances explored here, central to the cultural debates of their time, had been previously overlooked by theater historians. Among the performances discussed are David Belasco's controversial production of Edward Sheldon and Charles MacArthur's Lulu Belle (1926), with its raucous, libidinous view of Harlem. The title character, as performed by a white woman in blackface, became a symbol of defiance for the gay subculture and was simultaneously held up as a symbol of supposedly immoral black women. African Americans Florence Mills and Ethel Waters, two of the most famous performers of the 1920s, countered the Lulu Belle stereotype in written statements and through parody, thereby reflecting the powerful effect this fictional character had on the popular imagination. Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies is based on historical archival research including readings of eyewitness accounts, newspaper reports, songs, and playscripts. Employing a cultural studies framework that incorporates queer and critical race theory, it argues against the widely held belief that the stereotypical forms of black, lesbian, and gay show business of the 1920s prohibited the emergence of distinctive new voices. Specialists in American studies, performance studies, African American studies, and gay and lesbian studies will find the book appealing, as will general readers interested in the vivid personalities and performances of the singers and actors introduced in the book. James F. Wilson is Professor of English and Theatre at LaGuardia Community College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Bunny: TikTok made me buy it!
by Mona AwadTHE TIKTOK SENSATIONThe darkly funny, spellbinding trip of a novel that EVERYONE is talking about'No punches pulled, no hilarities dodged, no meme unmangled. O Bunny you are sooo genius!' MARGARET ATWOODWe call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other. Seriously. Bunny.Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at Warren University. In fact, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort – a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny'.But then the Bunnies issue her with an invitation and Samantha finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door, across the threshold, and down their rabbit hole.Blending sharp satire with fairytale horror, Bunny provides a hilarious look at the dark side of female friendship from one of fiction's most original voices.'The Secret History meets Jennifer's Body. Brilliant, sharp, weird... I loved it and I couldn't put it down.' KRISTEN ROUPENIAN 'Made me nod and cackle in terrified recognition.' LENA DUNHAM 'Hilarious, hallucinogenic freakery.' DAILY MAIL 'Cerebral and complusively readable.' VANITY FAIR
Burgerz (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Travis AlabanzaHurled words. Thrown objects. Dodged burgers.After someone threw a burger at them and shouted a transphobic slur, performance artist Travis Alabanza became obsessed with burgers. How they are made, how they feel, and smell. How they travel through the air. How the mayonnaise feels on your skin.BURGERZ is the climax of their obsession – exploring how trans and gender non-conforming bodies exist and how, by them reclaiming an act of violence, we can address our own complicity.
Burn It All Down
by Nicolas DiDomizioTake the ride of a lifetime with this mother/son, crime/revenge thriller James Patterson praises as &“audacious, addictive, highly entertaining.&” Eighteen-year-old aspiring comic Joey Rossi just found out his boyfriend has been cheating on him for the past ten months. But what did he expect? Joey was born with an addiction to toxic jerks—something he inherited from his lovably messy, wisecracking, Italian-American spitfire of a mom (and best friend): 34-year-old Gia Rossi. When Gia&’s latest non-relationship goes up in flames only a day later, the pair&’s Bayonne, New Jersey apartment can barely contain their rage. In a misguided attempt at revenge, Joey and Gia inadvertently commit a series of crimes and flee the state, running to the only good man either of them has ever known—Gia&’s ex, Marco. As they hide out from the law at Marco&’s secluded lake house, Joey and Gia must confront all the bad habits and mistakes they&’ve made that have led them to this moment—and find a way to take responsibility for what they&’ve done.
Burn Our Bodies Down
by Rory PowerFrom the author of the New York Times bestseller Wilder Girls comes a twisty thriller about a girl whose past has always been a mystery – until she decides to return to her mother's hometown, where history has a tendency to repeat itself . . .Ever since Margot was born, it's been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot's questions. No history to hold on to. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.But that's not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And when she finds a photograph pointing her to a town called Phalene, she leaves. But when Margot gets there, it's not what she bargained for.Margot's mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what's still there?Burn Our Bodies Down is a blistering horror-thriller from YA author Rory Power that will grip you from its very first page, and won't let you go until long after you've put it down.
Butch Queens Up in Pumps: Gender, Performance, and Ballroom Culture in Detroit (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)
by Marlon M BaileyButch Queens Up in Pumpsexamines Ballroom culture, in which inner-city LGBT individuals dress, dance, and vogue to compete for prizes and trophies. Participants are affiliated with a house, an alternative family structure typically named after haute couture designers and providing support to this diverse community. Marlon M. Bailey’s rich first-person performance ethnography of the Ballroom scene in Detroit examines Ballroom as a queer cultural formation that upsets dominant notions of gender, sexuality, kinship, and community.
Butt In (Hot Tales of Gay Lust #11)
by Landon DixonAn Xcite Books collection of five erotic gay stories with mixed and varied m/m themes including menage, BDSM, sci-fi, voyeurism, sex in public and interracial.Butt InHe was an assman from way back, always gravitating to men's moons - following them with his eyes in pants and shorts and swimsuits, fondling them with his hands, clothed and bare, fucking them with his cock. And so, when he saw the man laid out on the beach like a Nubian offering to the glute gods, he went weak in the knees and hard in the cock. And he just had to butt in.Engines of the NightThey were after Mariano. Far off, the high-pitched whine of an engine throttling to top speed, then the shotgun-like blasts of a bigger engine, exploding from cruising to racing speed, echoing through the dark, empty, concrete streets. Revving closer, burning nearer, seeking, doing battle over hot, young men like Mariano who dared go out at night.Hunk-hunk!He works for Hunk magazine, a glossy monthly publication that profiles handsome male athletes, runs features on various sporting, health, and lifestyle issues. The job doesn't pay well, but there's one excellent fringe benefit: the opportunity to ogle hunky men in their deliberately-made-skimpy uniforms and other athletic gear. And when two studly footballers show up for a photo shoot, the pictorial action turns wildly perverted, in living colour.Massaging the TruthIt was a sleazy, back alley Washington massage parlour with a reputation for "full-service" rubdowns. You had to know the password just to get in. Thompson knew it, wanted the works. And then he knew he wanted so much more.Agony UncleA lot of young men had gone through it - being "interviewed" by "Uncle Simon", the man who ran the main industry in town, virtually controlled the entire county. It was a rough, rigorous process that resulted in only the right men for the job. The reward? Employment at Uncle Simon's business, servitude at Uncle Simon's home.
Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages
by Roland BetancourtA fascinating history of marginalized identities in the medieval worldWhile the term “intersectionality” was coined in 1989, the existence of marginalized identities extends back over millennia. Byzantine Intersectionality reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Roland Betancourt explores these issues in the context of the Byzantine Empire, using sources from late antiquity and early Christianity up to the early modern period. Highlighting nuanced and strikingly modern approaches by medieval writers, philosophers, theologians, and doctors, Betancourt offers a new history of gender, sexuality, and race.Betancourt weaves together art, literature, and an impressive array of texts to investigate depictions of sexual consent in images of the Virgin Mary, tactics of sexual shaming in the story of Empress Theodora, narratives of transgender monks, portrayals of same-gender desire in images of the Doubting Thomas, and stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in representations of the Ethiopian Eunuch. He also gathers evidence from medical manuals detailing everything from surgical practices for late terminations of pregnancy to save a mother’s life to a host of procedures used to affirm a person’s gender.Showing how understandings of gender, sexuality, and race have long been enmeshed, Byzantine Intersectionality offers a groundbreaking look at the culture of the medieval world.
C+nto: & Othered Poems
by Joelle Taylor‘Visionary and powerful. I loved it.’ Hollie McNish The female body is a political space.C+nto enters the private lives of women from the butch counterculture, telling the inside story of the protests they led in the ‘90s to reclaim their bodies as their own – their difficult balance between survival and self-expression. History, magic, rebellion, party and sermon vibrate through Joelle Taylor’s cantos to uncover these underground communities forged by women.Part-memoir and part-conjecture, Taylor explores sexuality and gender in poetry that is lyrical, expansive, imagistic, epic and intimate. C+nto is a love poem, a riot, a late night, and an honouring.
Cage (Reykjavik Noir #3)
by Lilja SigurdardottirDrugs, smuggling, big money and political intrigue in Iceland rally with love, passion, murder and betrayal until the winner takes all … in the masterful, explosive conclusion to the award-winning Reykjavík Noir trilogy…***Guardian Book of the Year***‘Tough, uncompromising and unsettling’ Val McDermid‘One of the darkest and most compelling series in modern crime fiction … Tackling topical issues, the book will tell you a great deal about why the world’s in the state it is, while never neglecting its duty to entertain’ Sunday Express ‘A tense thriller with a highly unusual plot and interesting characters’ The Times_________________The prison doors slam shut behind Agla, when her sentence ends, but her lover Sonja is not there to meet her.As a group of foreign businessmen tries to draw Agla into an ingenious fraud that stretches from Iceland around the world, Agla and her former nemesis, María find the stakes being raised at a terrifying speed.Ruthless drug baron Ingimar will stop at nothing to protect his empire, but he has no idea about the powder keg he is sitting on in his own home.At the same time, a deadly threat to Sonya and her family brings her from London back to Iceland, where she needs to settle scores with longstanding adversaries if she wants to stay alive._________________‘Cage is the muted and more credible conclusion to a wayward, but diverting trilogy that began with Snare (2017) and continued with Trap (2018) — ironic titles for essentially escapist fiction … Compassion beats complexity every time’ The Times‘In keeping with a lot of Icelandic fiction, Cage is written in a clean, understated style, the author letting the reader put together the emotional beats and plot developments. Smart writing with a strongly beating heart’ Big Issue‘Deftly plotted though and with a forensic attention to the technicalities of stock exchange manipulations and drug running techniques’ Crime Time‘With shocks and surprises in store, and that oh so satisfying end, Cage provoked, chilled, and thrilled me’ LoveReading‘A novel about survival, about scheming, it’s about self-preservation and about clinging to a vestige of decency in a screwed up world. Superbly translated by Quentin Bates, who knows the language, the country, the people and crime writing intimately. Cage is a pacy thriller; you will find yourself invested in the story’ New Books Magazine‘An emotional suspense rollercoaster on a par with The Firm, as desperate, resourceful, profoundly lovable characters scheme against impossible odds’ Alexandra Sokoloff‘Clear your diary. As soon as you begin reading … you won’t be able to stop until the final page’ Michael Wood‘Zips along, with tension building and building … thoroughly recommend’ James Oswald‘The intricate plot is breathtakingly original, with many twists and turns you never see coming. Thriller of the year’ New York Journal of Books
Calcutta Kosher (Oberon Modern Plays Ser.)
by Shelley SilasIn a crumbling Calcutta home, two sisters are forced to come to terms with their mother’s secret history. In this funny and moving play, award-winning writer Shelley Silas examines how family and culture, time and distance, influence our sense of who we are. Set in the Indian Jewish community, it explores conflicts between old and new, east and west, tradition and truth. If the past is another country, where is home? Calcutta Kosher was produced by the Kali Theatre Company and toured the UK in February and March 2004.
Call Me By Your Name
by Andre AcimanNow a Major Motion Picture from Director Luca Guadagnino, Starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet, and Written by James IvoryWINNER BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY ACADEMY AWARDNominated for Four OscarsA New York Times BestsellerA USA Today Bestseller A Los Angeles Times BestsellerA Vulture Book Club PickAn Instant Classic and One of the Great Love Stories of Our TimeAndre Aciman's Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Each is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, when, during the restless summer weeks, unrelenting currents of obsession, fascination, and desire intensify their passion and test the charged ground between them. Recklessly, the two verge toward the one thing both fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy. It is an instant classic and one of the great love stories of our time.
Callisto: A Queer Epic (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Hal CoaseCallisto is a swirling constellation of remarkable queer stories. Hurtle across time and space with this scintillating and extraordinary new play.In London, 1680, opera star Arabella Hunt has secretly entered into the first recorded gay marriage in UK history. In Worcester, 1936, Alan Turing pays one final visit to Isobel Morcom, mother of his lost first love, Christopher. In the San Fernando Valley, 1979, Tammy Frazer arrives at Callisto Pornographic Studios, searching for the love of her life. And on the Moon, 2223, Lorn is building a paradise to sleep in, but his A.I. companion Cal is determined to keep him awake.
The Cambridge Companion To Gay And Lesbian Writing (PDF)
by Hugh StevensIn the last two decades, lesbian and gay studies have transformed literary studies and developed into a vital and influential area for students and scholars. This Companion introduces readers to the range of debates that inform studies of works by lesbian and gay writers and of literary representations of same-sex desire and queer identities. Each chapter introduces key concepts in the field in an accessible way and uses several important literary texts to illustrate how these concepts can illuminate our readings of them. Authors discussed range from Henry James, E. M. Forster and Gertrude Stein to Sarah Waters and Carol Ann Duffy. The contributors showcase the wide variety of approaches and theoretical frameworks that characterise this field, drawing on related themes of gender and sexuality. With a chronology and guide to further reading, this volume offers a stimulating introduction to the diversity of approaches to lesbian and gay literature.
Camp
by L. C. Rosen'The gay summer camp romp of my dreams' - Cale Dietrich, author of The Love Interest Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It's where he met his best friends. It's where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it's where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim - who's only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists.This year, though, it's going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as 'Del' - buff, masculine and on the market. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish and his unicorn bedsheets, he's determined to get Hudson to fall for him.But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself how much is he willing to change for love. And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn't know who he truly is?'A bang up-to-date Judy Blume teenage rom-com for the inclusive, switched-on generation' - Justin Myer, aka The Guyliner'Super sweet' - Gscene MagazinePraise for Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) 'Jack of Hearts might be the most important queer novel of the decade' Gay Times 'Jack of Hearts won my heart' Courtney Act 'This book is filth' Julian Clary 'The affirming, sex-positive, brilliant new book that puts the "adult" into young adult literature' Attitude 'Humane, sex-positive writing of the funniest, filthiest and most heartening kind' The Guardian
Camp QUILTBAG
by Nicole Melleby A. J. SassFrom the acclaimed authors of Hurricane Season and Ana on the Edge, an unforgettable story about the importance of and joy in finding a community, for fans of Alex Gino and Ashley Herring-Blake. Twelve-year-old Abigail (she/her/hers) is so excited to spend her summer at Camp QUILTBAG, an inclusive retreat for queer and trans kids. She can&’t wait to find a community where she can be herself—and, she hopes, admit her crush on that one hot older actress to kids who will understand. Thirteen-year-old Kai (e/em/eir) is not as excited. E just wants to hang out with eir best friend and eir parkour team. And e definitely does not want to think about the incident that left eir arm in a sling—the incident that also made Kai&’s parents determined to send em somewhere e can feel like emself. After a bit of a rocky start at camp, Abigail and Kai make a pact: If Kai helps Abigail make new friends, Abigail will help Kai's cabin with the all-camp competition. But as they navigate a summer full of crushes, queer identity exploration, and more, they learn what's really important. Camp QUILTBAG is a heartfelt story full of the joy that comes from being and loving yourself.
Campus Rumpus: A collection of gay erotic stories
by Landon DixonA collection of five sexually explicit erotic stories with gay themes including domination, submission and crime. Campus Rumpus:Jeremy is assigned the laborious task of trying to drill the fundamentals of chemistry into the college's starting D lineman. But out on the field, it's a whole 'nother ball game.Penal System:When you've been in stir for as long as Louie has, you judge a man by his crotch. And when they shoved the latest recruit into Louie's cell to become his mate, he vowed to go the system one better - and make the guy his bitch.Dirty Dick:Most dicks make it a habit not to get involved with their clients. "Dirty" Dick Stenner, however, is just the opposite, in (Sam) spades. Sometimes, he even goes so far as playing both ends against the middle.Scuba-Doo:Jake and Ethan are on vacation in beautiful Hawaii. And when Ethan catches Jake dreaming about Leeza, the beautiful scuba diving instructor, he shows the horny young man just how many meanings "Aloha" really has.Mob Scene:I was grinding a taco down to size when he alighted on the stool across from me. 'You a dick?' he purred. 'I've been called worse.' So begins this tale of mobsters, pornsters, and male-sters, set in swinging San Fran circa the 70s.These stories have also been published in Hot Tales of Gay Lust Paperback ISBN 9781907761454 eBook ISBN 9781907761461
Can I tell you about Gender Diversity?: A guide for friends, family and professionals (PDF)
by Cj Atkinson Olly PikeMeet Kit - a 12 year old undergoing medical transition - as he talks about gender and the different ways it can be explored. He explains what it is like to transition and how his friends, family and teachers can help through talking, listening and being proactive. With illustrations throughout, this is an ideal way to start conversations about gender diversity in the classroom or at home and suitable for those working in professional services and settings. The book also includes a useful list of recommended reading, organisations and websites for further information and support.
Can I tell you about Gender Diversity?: A guide for friends, family and professionals
by Olly Pike Cj AtkinsonMeet Kit - a 12 year old undergoing medical transition - as he talks about gender and the different ways it can be explored. He explains what it is like to transition and how his friends, family and teachers can help through talking, listening and being proactive. With illustrations throughout, this is an ideal way to start conversations about gender diversity in the classroom or at home and suitable for those working in professional services and settings. The book also includes a useful list of recommended reading, organisations and websites for further information and support.
Can't Spell Treason Without Tea: A heart-warming cosy fantasy - Legends & Lattes but with tea! (Tomes & Tea)
by Rebecca ThorneA heart-warming, sapphic journey brimming with jeopardy, magic and a love of tea – for fans of Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes and TJ Klune.Two women wanted to open a cosy bookshop. They discovered a world of adventure.Reyna and Kianthe dream of opening a friendly book shop together, serving the very best tea and cakes. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters – all complemented by love and good company. But Reyna is an elite bodyguard to a vengeful queen, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives behind seems . . . impossible. Yet they flee to Tawney, a town nestled in the icy peaks of dragon country. There, they open the bookstore they'd always wanted.What follows is a tale of mishaps, mysteries, dragons, and a murderous queen throwing the realm’s biggest temper tantrum. Through it, these two women will discover what they mean to each other – and their world.Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne is a gorgeous treat of a book, filled with cosy adventure, sapphic romance and good feelings. The story continues in the swashbuckling A Pirate's Life for Tea.
Can't Take That Away
by Steven Salvatore"A charming, inspired story about being true to who you are." - Phil Stamper, bestselling author of The Gravity of UsAn empowering and emotional debut about a genderqueer teen who finds the courage to stand up and speak out for equality when they are discriminated against by their high school administration.Carey Parker dreams of being a diva, and bringing the house down with song. They can hit every note of all the top pop and Broadway hits. But despite their talent, emotional scars from an incident with a homophobic classmate and their grandmother's spiraling dementia make it harder and harder for Carey to find their voice. Then Carey meets Cris, a singer/guitarist who makes Carey feel seen for the first time in their life. With the rush of a promising new romantic relationship, Carey finds the confidence to audition for the role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the school musical, setting off a chain reaction of prejudice by Carey's tormentor and others in the school. It's up to Carey, Cris, and their friends to defend their rights--and they refuse to be silenced. Told in alternating chapters with identifying pronouns, debut author Steven Salvatore's Can't Take That Away conducts a powerful, uplifting anthem, a swoony romance, and an affirmation of self-identity that will ignite the activist in all of us.
Capitalisms and Gay Identities
by Stephen ValocchiIn this important text, Stephen Valocchi brings capitalism back into the study of the gay and lesbian movement. He argues that to understand the collective identity, structure, strategies and goals of the movement, we need to understand the role that capitalism and the state have played. While capitalism and the state have figured centrally in earlier analyses of social movements, these important institutions and their social processes are no longer central concerns of the theory and research of social movements in the United States. Capitalisms and Gay Identities examines how the class-based inequalities and changing class structures of capitalism interact with and indeed help shape the dynamics of other types of inequalities, such as gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity. These inequalities and structures, in turn, shape the specific grievances of, and affect the nature of, stigma levied against individuals with sexual and gender nonconformity. Valocchi shows that capitalism is a dynamic system, and as it changes, the nature of the movement and the collective identity created by the movement also changes. A vital text for undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociology, social movements, LGBTQ politics and American studies, Capitalisms and Gay Identities challenges our understanding of many aspects of the gay and lesbian movement when viewed through the lens of capitalism, particularly its ability to advance the cause of sexual freedom and gender justice.
Capitalisms and Gay Identities
by Stephen ValocchiIn this important text, Stephen Valocchi brings capitalism back into the study of the gay and lesbian movement. He argues that to understand the collective identity, structure, strategies and goals of the movement, we need to understand the role that capitalism and the state have played. While capitalism and the state have figured centrally in earlier analyses of social movements, these important institutions and their social processes are no longer central concerns of the theory and research of social movements in the United States. Capitalisms and Gay Identities examines how the class-based inequalities and changing class structures of capitalism interact with and indeed help shape the dynamics of other types of inequalities, such as gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity. These inequalities and structures, in turn, shape the specific grievances of, and affect the nature of, stigma levied against individuals with sexual and gender nonconformity. Valocchi shows that capitalism is a dynamic system, and as it changes, the nature of the movement and the collective identity created by the movement also changes. A vital text for undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociology, social movements, LGBTQ politics and American studies, Capitalisms and Gay Identities challenges our understanding of many aspects of the gay and lesbian movement when viewed through the lens of capitalism, particularly its ability to advance the cause of sexual freedom and gender justice.
Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Ambition and Betrayal
by Laurence Leamer'There are certain women,' Truman Capote wrote, 'who, though perhaps not born rich, are born to be rich.'These women captivated and enchanted Capote - he befriended them, received their deepest confidences, and ingratiated himself into their lives. From Barbara 'Babe' Paley to Lee Radziwill (Jackie Kennedy's sister) they were the toast of mid-century New York, each beautiful and distinguished in her own way.For years, Capote had been trying to write what he believed would be his magnum opus, Answered Prayers. But when he eventually published a few chapters in Esquire, the barely fictionalised lives (and scandals) of his closest female confidantes were laid bare for all to see. The blowback incinerated his relationships and banished Capote from their high-society world forever.In Capote's Women, New York Times bestselling author Laurence Leamer investigates the true story of the renowned author and his famous friends, weaving a fascinating tale of friendship, intrigue, and betrayal.
Caravaggio (BFI Film Classics)
by Leo Bersani Ulysse DutoitCaravaggio (1986), Derek Jarman's portrait of the Italian Baroque artist, shows the painter at work with models drawn from Rome's homeless and prostitutes, and his relationship with two very different lovers: Ranuccio, played by Sean Bean, and Lena, played by Tilda Swinton. It is probably the closest Derek Jarman came to a mainstream film. And yet the film is a uniquely complex and lucid treatment of Jarman's major concerns: violence, history, homosexuality, and the relation between film and painting. In particular, according to Leo Bersani and Ulysse Dutoit, Caravaggio is unlike Jarman's other work in avoiding a sentimentalising of gay relationships and in making no neat distinction between the exercise and the suffering of violence.Film-making involves a coercive power which, for Bersani and Dutoit, Jarman may, without admitting it to himself, have found deeply seductive. But in Caravaggio this power is renounced, and the result is Jarman's most profound, unsettling and astonishing reflection on sexuality and identity.