Deviant Opera: Sex, Power, and Perversion on Stage by Axel Englund (English) Har

Description: Deviant Opera by Axel Englund Imagine Armida, Handels Saracen sorceress, performing her breakneck coloraturas in a black figure-hugging rubber dress, beating her insubordinate furies into submission with a cane, suspending a captive Rinaldo in chains from the ceiling of her dungeon. Mozarts peasant girl Zerlina, meanwhile, is tying up and blindfolding her fiancé to seduce him out of his jealousy of Don Giovanni. And how about Wagners wizard, Klingsor, ensnaring his choir of flower maidens in elaborate Japanese rope bondage? Opera, it would appear, has developed a taste for sadomasochism. For decades now, radical stage directors have repeatedly dressed canonical operas—from Handel and Mozart to Wagner and Puccini, and beyond—in whips, chains, leather, and other regalia of SM and fetishism. Deviant Opera seeks to understand this phenomenon, approaching the contemporary visual code of perversion as a lens through which opera focuses and scrutinizes its own configurations of sex, gender, power, and violence. The emerging image is that of an art form that habitually plays with an eroticization of cruelty and humiliation, inviting its devotees to take sensual pleasure in the suffering of others. Ultimately, Deviant Opera argues that this species of opera fantasizes about breaking the boundaries of its own role-playing, and pushing its erotic power exchanges from the enacted to the actual. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Flap "What if operas fascination with fetish iconography were not mere stylistic overlay, but rather an invitation to read contemporary opera as sadomasochistic power exchange? This is Axel Englunds central provocation in Deviant Opera-- one that yields fresh insight into the workings of BDSM play, performance, and transgression on and off stage." -- Margot Weiss, author of Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality "Smart, brave, and deeply knowledgeable. Opera criticism does not get better than this."--Lawrence Kramer, author of The Hum of the World: A Philosophy of Listening "Any opera lover who dismisses a BDSM-inflected opera production as simply the latest Regietheater fad needs to read this riveting study. Englund uncovers surprisingly analogous connections between BDSM (its conventions, "transgressions," and semiotics) and opera--a cultural practice that has luxuriated in extremes of sexuality, violence, and power for four centuries."--Kristi Brown-Montesano, author of Understanding the Women of Mozarts Operas Author Biography Axel Englund is Professor of Literature at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics, Stockholm University, and author of Still Songs: Music In and Around the Poetry of Paul Celan. Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface Introduction. Staging Deviance 1. Opera and Sadomasochism 2. Sex in Excess: Rinaldo, Alcina, and the Contemporary Baroque 3. Schools of Libertinage: Don Giovanni with Sade 4. In-House Allegories: Enactment and Actuality in Parsifal and Tosca 5. More or Less Human: Wozzeck, Lulu, and the Soprano Conductor Epilogue. The Actuality Effect and Operas Quest for Authenticity Notes Works Cited Index Review "An erudite analysis of sadomasochism (SM) in opera." * Opera Now *"Englunds academically disciplined discussions of opera direction and sex become meaningful far beyond the portrayed sadomasochistic situation. They also concern the conditions of operas fundamental aesthetic laws and expressions." * OPERA (Sweden) *"[Axel] Englunds study of deviant opera is penetrating and extremely thoroughly researched, persuasively argued, abundantly documented, and well written." * Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books * Review Quote "Englunds academically disciplined discussions of opera direction and sex become meaningful far beyond the portrayed sadomasochistic situation. They also concern the conditions of operas fundamental aesthetic laws and expressions." Details ISBN0520343255 Author Axel Englund Publisher University of California Press Year 2020 ISBN-10 0520343255 ISBN-13 9780520343252 Format Hardcover Publication Date 2020-10-06 Imprint University of California Press Subtitle Sex, Power, and Perversion on Stage Place of Publication Berkerley Country of Publication United States DEWEY 782.1 Short Title Deviant Opera Language English UK Release Date 2020-10-06 Pages 280 NZ Release Date 2020-10-06 US Release Date 2020-10-06 Illustrations 44 b-w photographs Audience Professional & Vocational AU Release Date 2020-10-05 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:130786112;

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