Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure

Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer/Trans Theater/Drama/Performance)

Against queer theory's long-suffering romance with mourning and melancholia and a national agenda that urges homosexuals to renounce pleasure if they want to be taken seriously, Acts of Gaiety seeks to reanimate notions of "gaiety" as a political value for LGBT activism by recovering earlier mirthful modes of political performance. The book mines the archives of lesbian-feminist activism of the 1960sâ€“70s, highlighting the outrageous gaietyâ€”including camp, kitsch, drag, guerrilla theater, zap actions, rallies, manifestos, pageants, and parades alongside "legitimate theaterâ€-- at the center of the social and theatrical performances of the era. Juxtaposing figures such as Valerie Solanas and Jill Johnston with more recent performers and activists including Hothead Paisan, Bitch and Animal, and the Five Lesbian Brothers, Sara Warner shows how reclaiming this largely discarded and disavowed past elucidates possibilities for being and belonging. Acts of Gaiety explores the mutually informing histories of gayness as politics and as joie de vivre, along with the centrality of liveliness to queer performance and protest.
Country USA
Brand University of Michigan Press
Manufacturer University of Michigan Press
Binding Paperback
ReleaseDate 2013-06-10
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780472035670

Country	USA
Brand	University of Michigan Press
Manufacturer	University of Michigan Press
Binding	Paperback
ReleaseDate	2013-06-10
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780472035670

Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer/Trans Theater/Drama/Performance)