Listening to the sirens : musical technologies of queer identity from Homer to Hedwig / Judith A. Peraino.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Peraino, Judith Ann.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gender identity in music.

Homosexuality and music.

Music and literature.

Music--History and criticism.

Music.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (370 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this fresh and innovative study, Judith A. Peraino investigates how music has been used throughout history to call into question norms of gender and sexuality. Beginning with a close examination of the mythology surrounding the sirens-whose music seduced Ulysses into a state of mind in which he would gladly sacrifice everything for the illicit pleasures promised in their song-Peraino goes on to consider the musical creatures, musical gods and demigods, musical humans, and music-addled listeners who have been associated with behavior that breaches social conventions. She deftly employs a sophisticated reading of Foucault as an organizational principle as well as a philosophical focus to survey seductive and transgressive queerness in music from the Greeks through the Middle Ages and to the contemporary period. Listening to the Sirens analyzes the musical ways in which queer individuals express and discipline their desire, represent themselves, build communities, and subvert heterosexual expectations. It covers a wide range of music including medieval songs, works by Handel, Tchaikovsky and Britten, women's music and disco, performers such as Judy Garland, Melissa Etheridge, Madonna, and Marilyn Manson, and the movies The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Songs of the Sirens

2. A Music of One's Own

3. Queer Ears and Icons

4. Homomusical Communities

5. Flights of Fancy

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9786612356438

9781282356436

1282356437

9780520921740

0520921747

9781423717287

1423717287

9781598755848

1598755846

OCLC:

475945523