“Moon is an elegant reader, at his best when revealing layers of disruption and elusive motivation embedded within seemingly reticent texts.” - BookForum
“[A] highly original approach. . . . Individual chapters are brilliant. . . . [T]his is highly recommended for collections supporting graduate work in queer theory and cultural studies.” - Library Journal
“[Moon’s] aim is ambitious: to highlight points of continuity between formative influences of American queer culture during two critical decades—one following the conviction of Oscar Wilde (1895) and the other leading up to the period of the Stonewall riots (1969). Shuttling between these two periods, Moon examines how a variety of artists with queer sensibilities precociously identified themselves as outsiders highly sensitive to cultural disconnection and personal loss. . . . Moon juxtaposes figures not usually yoked in critical inquiry: Henry James and David Lynch, Vaslav Nijinksy and Jack Smith, Andy Warhol and John Schlesinger, Joseph Cornell and Gerard deNerval. In each instance, his intent is explicitly revisionist: he proposes a radical reassessment of the significance of the artists’ works. Scholars and students aware of these artists should find Moon’s argument provocative.” - Choice
“Refreshing and original. . . .” - Eric Savoy, The Henry James Review
“Moon’s analyses are shrewd and compassionate about their subjects, and give powerful evidence to the value of queer theory for criticism in general—the value of an open generosity of attention that is becoming increasingly rare within straightened and specialised academia.” - Ian F. A. Bell, American Studies
“Michael Moon’s beautifully written book offers splendid and nuanced readings of American literature and culture that move the project of queer literary practice into a new order of complexity and subtlety. His radical contributions show that queer imitation involves a disorientation of mimesis, affirming both the sympathetic and divisive dimensions of identification. Moving, incisive, and bold, Moon’s writing approaches moments of rapture and loss and fails to tame them.”—Judith Butler
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Introduction | 1 | |
| 1 | A Small Boy and Others: Sexual Disorientation in Henry James, Kenneth Anger, and David Lynch | 15 |
| 2 | Initiation into Style: In the Memory Palace of Henry James | 31 |
| 3 | Flaming Closets | 67 |
| 4 | Screen Memories, or, Pop Comes from the Outside: Warhol and Queer Childhood | 95 |
| 5 | Outlaw Sex and the "Search for America": Representing Male Prostitution and Perverse Desire in Sixties Film (My Hustler and Midnight Cowboy) | 117 |
| 6 | Oralia: Joseph Cornell, Hunger, Sweetness, and Women's Performances | 133 |
| 7 | Tragedy and Trash: Yiddish Theater and Queer Theater, Henry James, Charles Ludlam, Ethyl Eichelberger | 155 |
| Notes | 173 | |
| Index | 193 |
Overview